


In Case You Didn't Know, I Love You

by Spat915



Category: RWBY
Genre: Bodyswap, F/F, Fluff, Romance, White Rose Week (RWBY), White Rose Week 2020 (RWBY)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:27:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24694507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spat915/pseuds/Spat915
Summary: My submissions for White Rose Week 2020 are all one story! After a blurry night of Yang's creation, Ruby and Weiss find themselves reflected in each other a little more than they'd like. But life goes on, so they're just going to have to make the best of it. Who knows, maybe it'll bring them closer?
Relationships: Ruby Rose & Weiss Schnee, Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 5
Kudos: 91





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Readers! After a long hiatus, I’m back! Just in time for White Rose Week on tumblr, too. Somehow I have never participated before, so the buck stops now - with a brand new story!
> 
> The prompts for today were: “Love at first sight/Eye-contact,” “Mirror,” and “A Blue eye with tears.”
> 
> Enjoy!

The first sounds of the morning to enter the consciousness of one Weiss Schnee were birds gently singing outside her dorm. She smiled and turned over, wondering what had happened the previous day as her mind seemed slow to remember.

Friday.

Weiss smiled as she sat up and stretched, realizing it was almost the weekend, and thankfully they’d gotten their typical Yang-inspired shenanigans out of the way a day early. That’s right, it was all coming back to her. The beer-pong, the funnel cake, Nora swinging from a light fixture… before it electrocuted her… before she promptly _renovated_ a section of the bar with her forehead… and an intoxicating blur of red and white as she spun around a dance floor.

Not that she’d ever admit such a thing, but it had been rather fun to let loose with her friends after working so hard on their mid terms the previous week. Weiss sighed, realizing there was no way she’d get back to sleep now that she was thinking coherently. The dislike of that realization placing a slight damper on her otherwise copacetic mood. As usual, it seemed a cup of strong coffee was in order.

So Weiss picked herself up and jumped out of bed, stumbling slightly as she landed on the floor much harder than she was used to with her eyes still closed and blurry before she caught herself and headed to the washroom.

She was quick to shed her clothes and run the shower, sighing as she adjusted the temperature and stepped in to the steaming water. She closed her eyes and held her breath as she stepped under the water and gently scrubbed her face to rid herself of her sleep encrusted eyes and any makeup the removal pads hadn’t managed to catch the night before.

Weiss relaxed as she let the hot water wash over her, warming her cold bones as she started as usual to plan her day. She washed her body first, noticing that for once her hair seemed to be behaving and not flying everywhere as it normally did. It often made scrubbing her body much more difficult, but she paid it no mind as it was cooperating for once.

And so it was as she was rinsing off that she felt her breasts were slightly larger than the last time she’d taken notice of them in the shower. Not by much, maybe a half size, if even that, but it was something at least. It had been a long while since she’d seen any growth in that area, and it honestly concerned her at times that she might be stuck with such a small chest forever, especially since she outright refused to stoop to the level of the twittering elites back in Atlas who kept recommending their plastic surgeons to her.

Weiss moved on, grabbing her shampoo and lathering up her hands before grasping her hair.

“…” Weiss froze as her hands carefully explored… not a whole lot. Again, she’d never admit it, but she liked her long hair as it was one of the few things that she could control, as the rest of her body seemed intent on ignoring her wishes. Regardless of that though, she couldn’t believe that it felt… gone. “Maybe I’m just imagining things…”

Her mumble was a faint hope even as the fact that it was gone echoed in her head. Then a thought occurred to her. Yang enjoyed pulling pranks on them, so maybe this was her idea for a laugh. Rage bubbled in Weiss, forcing her to take deep breaths as she calmed herself. Being angry never did any good, anyway. If she was calm, she could make whatever revenge she decided on hurt that much more. A small part of her reminded her that she shouldn’t follow her father’s footsteps, but the part of her that was angry with Yang’s practical joke convinced her to ensure this joke ended with Yang bald.

With her mind made up and her mood already less than two steps from an explosion less than ten minutes after she woke up, Weiss stepped out of the shower. Short as it was, she had already fogged up the mirror, and what she could tell already was that Yang seemed to have done much more than just cut her hair. The distorted reflection was darker than it should have been had her hair retained its fine white colour. Gritting her teeth in an attempt to stop herself from loosing a scream at the last prank Yang would ever dare to pull in her presence, Weiss swiped a hand quickly over the mirror and froze.

Silver.

Her eyes stared into the mirror, but the eyes looking back at her were definitely not hers. In fact, Weiss only knew one person with those eyes.

“Ruby?” Weiss asked, almost in disbelief as she finally heard her voice. “Wait a second…”

Weiss thought for a second, thinking of something Ruby had said to her that she could remember clearly.

“Weiss, give me a biiig hug!” She even went so far as to stretch her arms wide as if she were about to scoop someone into a hug when she realized how her voice sounded exactly like Ruby’s. “SON OF A FUCK!”

Weiss exclaimed and stepped back from the mirror in shock as the fog slowly continued to clear. She couldn’t believe what she’d just heard come out of her own mouth, a perfect impersonation of her team leader and best friend, and a swear she’d only heard Yang use once in her life. Except for all the voice training Weiss had undergone, impersonation was definitely not one of her known skills.

Her disbelief just rose as she stared into the eyes of her team leader in the mirror as the last of the fog disappeared from it’s surface. A quick glance around told her she was indeed alone, and the mirror followed her movements perfectly. She looked down at her body, dropping the towel as she did so noticing the muscle tone in her arms was weighted very differently than she was used to, though she only noticed it when she relaxed her shoulders.

“What in the world?” Weiss mumbled to herself as she approached the mirror again. She jumped back, petals falling in the place she’d just been as she felt her aura tap into a semblance much easier to control than her own. Weiss concentrated on her palm for a second before a cloud of petals burst forth and showered around her even as they dissolved seconds later into nothingness. “This is so weird.”

Weiss considered herself as she turned back and forth in the mirror. Ruby’s body seemed no different than she remembered from the countless times they’d seen each other in the changing rooms, but something was still off. “Right…”

Weiss slouched her shoulders and it struck her, that this was really Ruby’s body. Weiss turned, striking a pose and laughing at how goofy her partner looked before striking another. Weiss wasn’t sure why she found it so funny but she struck anther pose and gulped as her mouth ran dry. Weiss took in the sultry smile on her partner’s reflected face and how attractive she looked as if she were giving herself an invitation to bed.

Weiss gasped as she realized with a throb of her heart that she’d let her emotions get the better of her again, and she’d also just realized exactly why these feelings would crop up unexpectedly. The heat racing through her veins told her explicitly how much she enjoyed the look of her partner naked, and it was enough that Weiss finally put the feeling she’d been having about their friendship as of late into perspective. But Weiss shook the feeling off for the time being, because somehow, she was stuck in Ruby’s body… which meant…

“Where am I?” Weiss looked down and took her own clothes from the counter and, using Ruby’s semblance, returned them to the wardrobe and quickly took Ruby’s and dressed. The flurry of rose petals gave her plenty of cover for her body, and she was done within the space of two seconds anyway. She looked at her bunk to find it empty along with Ruby’s bed. Blake was curled up facing the wall still, and Yang had just stumbled up from her bed.

“Good morning Rubes!” Yang pounced for a hug, only for Weiss to duck and dart under her arm as her mind raced for an excuse to avoid her partner’s sister.

“No time Yang! The cafeteria has cookies!” Weiss remembered that Ruby had made a huge deal about it the day prior, realizing that if her suspicion was correct, it was the best chance to find Ruby.

Weiss used Ruby’s semblance and darted out the door as Yang opened her mouth to say something, but it was futile as she was long gone by the time any sound would have reached her ears.

Ruby entered the cafeteria seconds later, scanning the dozen or so people that were up at six in the morning like her. It didn’t take long to spot the only person with long white hair, but Weiss’s eyes almost skipped over her as the red cloak pulled up over her head did a great job of hiding almost the entire person from view, but the few strands hanging out of the hood as she pointed at the counter gave her away.

Weiss waited patiently as the person finished their order and paid for the massive plate of cookies. There was only one person who ate nothing but a diabetes inducing number of cookies every Friday morning at Beacon Academy, and Weiss was currently residing in their body, meaning that the person wearing the signature red cloak was without a doubt the person Weiss was seeking, and by the appearance of it, she was in her body as well.

Weiss approached the table just as a cookie was lifted to the hood only for Weiss to catch the person’s wrist in a vice grip.

“I sincerely hope you weren’t going to eat that garbage.” Weiss spoke, her usual vocabulary sounding especially strange in Ruby’s voice.

“H-huh?” The Weiss before her turned at her voice, her eyes widening as Weiss took the cookie and replaced it on the plate before taking a seat across from her own body.

“Strange meeting myself here.” Weiss quipped with a raised brow, knowing Ruby would pick up her mannerisms without any trouble seeing as they’d had so many similar interactions by now.

“W-Weiss? Is that you?” Ruby asked under her breath as she leaned close so she was sure they wouldn’t be overheard.

“No it’s Santa in here, you dolt!” Weiss snapped, the frustrated sound of Ruby’s voice filling the space between them.

“Weird, I woke up this morning and felt really slow… and I had your hair too… wait! Am I you?” Ruby asked incredulously as she looked down at her dainty hands as if taking them in for the first time. “I didn’t look in a mirror yet!”

“We have a winner. Now what did you do?” Weiss asked as she looked around to make sure they still had time for the private conversation. Ruby meanwhile had found a discarded spoon and was glaring into the terribly unreflective steel.

“W-what do you mean?” Ruby asked in confusion. Weiss scowled at the ditzy expression she saw on her own face and snapped in front of Ruby’s eyes to get her undivided attention.

“Do you remember doing anything strange, or anything that would have swapped our bodies?” Weiss asked as she thought about the previous night, and how hazy everything seemed. “I don’t know… maybe some experimental dust or something?”

“Um… no…” Ruby thought before snapping her fingers excitedly. “Oh, that lady gave us fortune cookies, but you took them away before I could read my fortune, remember?”

“It was just a paper Ruby, I’m talking anything like playing with dust, eating something that would cause severe hallucinations, you know what I’m getting at?” Weiss sighed in exasperation.

“Listen, I have no clue, but I bet it was those fortune cookies that did this. I mean it has all the markings of some strange curse, doesn’t it?” Weiss opened her mouth to reject the idea, but Ruby held up her hand. “Listen, I know you don’t believe in this kind of thing, but from the stories my Uncle Qrow used to tell me, I think it might actually be more real than you’d think. Either way it doesn’t hurt to at least see what they said.”

“Fine, then lets go.” Weiss made to get up only to see her partner in her own body reach for another cookie. “Hey!”

A loud smack was heard as rose petals floated to the ground and the red hood across the table from her shifted back off of Weiss’s unkempt hair. Ruby held her hand as she looked up with tears to her partner.

“Weiss Schnee does not eat cookies!” Weiss hissed under her breath as she noticed a few stares coming her way already. Surrendered to her fate, she sighed as she pulled the mountainous plate to herself and resumed her seat. “And you’re going to pay for this.”

“W-Weiss?” Ruby asked as she watched herself shove cookie after cookie into her mouth and chew as if they tasted worse than sour pickles. “You don’t have to eat those…”

“And if I don’t? They’ll go to waste… though they might anyway if I throw up.” Weiss glanced up and took in the bedraggled look of her own hair. “Did you do _anything_ this morning before you came to eat?”

“Uh, I put on my cape and uniform… and I kind of understand why it’s so loose and baggy looking now.” Ruby mentioned as she pulled on her neckline that was indeed looser than it should have been.

The cookie in Weiss’s hand exploded into a dust of crumbs as she watched Ruby pull at her chest. She felt her blood boil into her head and thunder along with her anger.

“Oh!” Ruby noticed her hair was sticking up a bit on one part of her head and promptly licked her hand and ran it through her hair. “Much better… Weiss?”

“Damn it Ruby!” Weiss barely contained her voice as she hissed. “Pull that damn hood up, and don’t do anything to embarrass me further! Not only did you leave yesterday’s makeup on, you didn’t brush my hair, and didn’t even take the time to figure out why your clothing was a size too big!”

“I think it’s more like two or three, Weiss…” Ruby trailed off at the look of pain her own eyes promised, she’d never seen her own eyes turn dark before but it terrified her all the same.

“How dare you! How dare you parade my body around Beacon looking like that! How dare you attempt to stuff your face and ruin my body with these damned sugar pucks!” Weiss’s fist came down, shattering the rest of the cookies with a well aimed punch of her semblance. “And how dare you suggest all this is the cause of some hokey made-up religion or other… other… _bullshit_ like that?!?”

“Weiss, wait!” Ruby rose at the same time as her partner before Weiss stormed off, rose petals flurrying around her like a turbulent cyclone as she slammed open the cafeteria door and disappeared. On the other side, Blake and Yang made their appearance and made their way over to who Ruby figured they’d think of as Weiss.

“Wow, you sure got her angry early in the morning.” Yang mused as she took up residence across from Blake who sat down next to Ruby. “Told you never to take her cape without asking.”

“That’s… not what she’s mad at…” Ruby replied before realizing it may be a better idea to keep the fact that they’d swapped bodies a secret.

“Not anything I should be concerned of is it?” Yang asked threateningly as she cracked her knuckles and Blake glanced at Ruby in warning.

“No.” Ruby replied as she quickly searched through the phrases she’d heard Weiss use before in similar situations. “Just a misunderstanding is all… I should make sure she’s okay though. See you in class.”

Ruby got up and tried to walk as gracefully as she could out of the cafeteria even as she felt hot tears track down her face. Not wanting to further besmirch Weiss’s image, she ducked into the nearest bathroom and was shocked to take in the beauty and sadness of Weiss’s eyes reflected back at her. Above that was an untamed mess of alabaster hair and her face was indeed covered with partially ruined makeup that was only ruined more as tears continued to stream from her eyes.

Weiss was normally beautiful as a goddess, and Ruby honestly believed she was no different even in this state of disrepair. But Weiss prided herself on being well kept, and Ruby had done nothing to even attempt to maintain that image. She hadn’t known she was in Weiss’s body, but looking back she should have figured something was wrong when she had to stuff Weiss’s hair into her cloak’s hood.

“Oh crap…” Ruby felt a pang in her chest as a cold hand gripped her heart. “What if I ruined our friendship… what if… she doesn’t like me anymore?”

Her mutterings fell short as a single word floated through her mind and a flashback to the night before as Weiss spun her around on the dance floor. Her heart started beating again as she stared into those deep blue eyes and a feeling she’d never really known before filled her up as she thought about her relationship with Weiss.

“No… why her?” Ruby felt her head spin and she grounded herself by grabbing onto the sink tightly. “Why… why, it doesn’t matter why!”

Hearing Weiss’s voice come out of her mouth, Ruby found the courage to take a deep breath. “Okay, so I’m in love with her… I can deal with that. She’s mad at me… nothing new there, except it looks to everyone else like I’m mad at her. Our minds are in each other’s bodies… now that’s a tough one…”

Ruby thought to herself for several long moments as she started to hear the sounds of students pass by the washroom on their way to class. Ruby looked at the time on her scroll and thought quickly.

“Okay, the body thing will have to wait. Ten minutes to shower dress in the right clothes, and get to class.” Ruby nodded to herself as she pulled her hood all the way down over her face. She couldn’t make up for being such a slob in Weiss’s body that morning, but she could still do her best to redeem some of that by showing up to class like a brand new Weiss.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompts for day 2 were: Beacon Days/School, Letters, and Two best friends holding each other close.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Psst…” Ruby hissed out of the corner of her mouth, discreetly passing a folded note to her own body sitting next to her. She kept her pen scratching away as Professor Port droned on, just as Weiss usually did, but with her attention already long gone she was really just writing gibberish in what she hoped was a pass for some kind of cursive. She hoped that it might keep her distraction hidden at a glance from any of the other students.

Weiss looked up at her with silver eyes gleaming with something Ruby imagined could only be disapproval as she took the note and placed it at the back of her notebook as she’d done with the dozen or so notes Ruby had already passed her. She sighed quietly and shook her head in defeat, realizing that Weiss was likely still mad at her.

But overall, Ruby thought she hadn’t done half bad at impersonating her teammate. From pretending to read a dust mechanics book over their lunch hour while scratching small notes in a notebook, to responding to Yang in the same way that Weiss usually did, although… she suspected something wasn’t quite right with the complaints she’d uttered at Yang’s puns… they were missing some kind of underlying element she couldn’t put her finger on. She’d also made an enormous effort earlier in the day to keep up with Professor Oobleck’s lecture, and even managed to outsmart Cardin in Glynda’s sparring match without needing to utilize her partner’s semblance. Not that she could figure out how to use her partner’s glyphs anyway, but defeating Cardin in style without using excessive force was an interesting change for her.

“Now do we have any volunteers?” Port’s voice cut through Ruby’s musing and she snapped to attention as the professor looked over the class, his eyes locking on her after sweeping back and forth for a moment. “Well, how about you Ms. Schnee? You seem capable as always.”

“Of course, sir.” Ruby nodded, making sure to address the professor as Weiss always did. She rose, pulling out her scroll and pressing the code to call Weiss’s locker to the room as Weiss caught her wrist.

“What are you doing?” She hissed, her eyes flashing for the barest of moments with concern before they fell back behind a shimmering mask.

“Read the notes.” Ruby replied in a whisper as she made a show of shaking Ruby’s hold off her wrist as she spoke louder. “A beowolf is child’s play, Ruby. Relax.”

“Oho!” Port boomed, hearing the exchange as he organized the papers on his desk before heading over to the Grimm enclosure that had been growling angrily for the better part of the class. “A beowolf may be easy prey, but this is an alpha beowolf. Let’s see what you make of it!”

Weiss gasped as Port released the monster the second Ruby pressed one foot to the main floor. Her locker was still across in the corner, and the monster was already out of the enclosure and sprinting with it’s sights set on the first thing in it’s path.

“R-Weiss!” Weiss’s snap correction thankfully went unnoticed as the creature growled loudly and Ruby seemed calm as she quickly wrapped her hair in a ball and pressed her hair pins back in as if she’d done the exact action on countless occasions. It was far from a perfect bun, but it did keep the long hair out of the way as the alpha beowolf lunged.

Ruby ducked low and spun on her palm, using the force of her spin to land a kick to the side of the Grimm’s leg, sending it stumbling to the floor as she jumped back to her feet, pressing the emergency unlock button on her scroll to access her locker. She arrived as the blast pins detonated and the door came loose, an excellent shield that blocked a swipe that was far too close for comfort as she drew her weapon and stabbed backward blindly only to be met with the resistance of the bone armour covering the creatures upper chest.

Ruby rolled low as the door was sliced in half with a second swipe, turning as the Beowolf adjusted itself for another attack. Seeing her opening, Ruby tossed Myrtenaster skyward as she slid below the creature and spun up to it’s back leg, jumping to catch the handle of her partner’s sword before plunging it down in an assassination move that altogether took less than three seconds, sending the creature of Grimm to the ground as it started smoking and breaking itself down into nothing.

Ruby rose from the creature’s back and swung the blade to clean the black gunk that now stained the normally sparkling steel before placing the weapon back on her belt’s clip. She quickly took a satchel that Weiss always wore from the locker before sending it to the maintenance shop as Port applauded with the rest of the class.

Ruby smiled slightly before giving a small curtsy and returning to her desk.

“See, nothing to worry about.” She stated to Weiss with a small smirk as Yang clapped her on the back.

“That was pretty cool, I didn’t know you had moves like that!” She exclaimed as Port pulled out his notes while already droning on about his childhood once more.

“I wanted to try it out. Seems more effort than it’s worth, to be honest.” Ruby said while imagining the voice coming from her was actually her teammate, and trying to think of what else to say. “But it’s better to try new things in a safe environment like this, rather than when you have no other choice in the field.”

“You make a good point. I was kind of surprised you didn’t use your semblance though.” Blake commented as she lowered her tone as the class quieted down for the remainder of the lecture.

“I would have used it if I didn’t land perfectly on the back of it’s leg.” Ruby shrugged indifferently, pretending to turn her attention back to the front of the class.

“That was still too risky, Weiss.” Weiss mumbled as she pressed a small piece of paper back toward her partner.

Ruby rose an eyebrow as Weiss turned back to the front of the class. She opened the note and inspected the neat scrawl that she recognized as Weiss’s. At the sight of it, she could only hope that nobody looked too closely at her notebook.

_No more risks. We need to talk - after dinner._

Ruby caught Weiss’s eye and nodded before turning her attention back to the class. With Port droning onto the third tangent to his story already, Ruby knew the next half an hour would feel like an eternity as she clenched her cramping hand and started writing notes again. Hopefully Weiss would be able to shorten these to something coherent afterwards.

* * *

Ruby gently patted her mouth with a napkin’s corner even though she knew damn well there was nothing there. Her salad was about half finished as was usual for Weiss, and Ruby was seriously wondering how on earth her partner managed to eat so little and survive. Although she supposed she’d be satisfied if she didn’t want to get a hamburger too. But it was her partner’s body she was feeding after all, so unlike the cookie fiasco they’d had this morning, she didn’t want to make the same mistake twice and get Weiss angry again.

“Alright guys, I’m going to hit the gym for a while.” Yang announced with a sigh as her second burger disappeared from her hand and she wiped some ketchup on a napkin.

“I’ll spot you then.” Blake offered as she stretched her arms out. “I think I’ll do some arm work.”

“Great!” Yang cheered as she turned to the other half of her team. “You guys want to come too? We could see if you got any better at grappling, Weiss.”

“No thank you. I agreed to help Ruby study already.” Ruby replied with a small smile. “Maybe next time.”

“Sure thing Weissicle!” Yang laughed, and Ruby forced a heavy sigh at the nickname as Yang and Blake left. A moment passed as Ruby and Weiss made eye contact with each other over the table.

“Alright, I must admit that it’s very disconcerting to watch you act like me.” Weiss told Ruby as they were the last ones at the table. “And… I suppose I was too hard on you this morning. You did a fairly passable portrayal of me today.”

“Well, that was kind of my fault too… I didn’t even think about acting like you even though I knew I had your hair, which would be really weird if something _wasn’t_ going on.” Ruby admitted. “Does that mean you’re not mad at me anymore?”

“Ruby, I should be the one asking you that.” Weiss chuckled slightly. “I behaved horribly, and panicking about being stuck in your body is no excuse. So…”

Ruby glanced behind her as she followed her partner’s eyes to team CRDL approaching.

“Schnee, you agreed to meet me after classes in trade for throwing the match.” Cardin said angrily. If one were to check the clock he’d been waiting about two hours already.

“I agreed to nothing of the sort, Cardin.” Ruby said, not bothering to turn as she winked at Weiss across from her. “I supposed if someone wanted to meet you after classes, they could, and it seems your team did… so I seem to have been correct in my supposition. I also supposed that if I wanted to meet someone after classes were over, I could, and it seems my partner is here as well.”

“You lying little-”

“That’s enough.” Ruby snapped as she turned in a very Weiss-like fashion. “I can’t help what you wanted to think my statements suggested, but do not call me a liar. Next time, consider the meaning of the words your opponent is speaking rather than assuming anything. You just make a fool of yourself in doing so.”

“You know what? Fine.” Cardin backed off, obviously very angry. “But next time you better hope I’m in a forgiving mood!”

“You flirted with him?” The quiet question came from Weiss as Ruby turned back to her partner.

“Well, not exactly…” Ruby thought for a moment before glancing around and leaning closer. “I may have been thinking rather loudly while I was looking at you in the crowd. Just so happens, he was more or less in my line of sight as well while we were getting ready to spar.”

“So you wanted to meet me after classes were over?” Weiss asked again, tiling Ruby’s head in the way Ruby normally did when she was thinking about something that wasn’t very clear to her. The fact that Weiss had been so quick to pick up Ruby’s mannerisms was something Ruby was curious about, but there were other more pressing things they needed to talk about too.

“Yes, I found those fortunes, and I figured it would do some good to talk, just the two of us. You know, in case we’re stuck like this for a while.” Ruby explained with a nod as Weiss’s eyes glanced around again.

“Rooftop?” Weiss asked as she pulled out Ruby’s scroll and sent Jaune a message that they’d be using the roof for a team issue that evening.

“Sounds lovely.” Ruby nodded as she placed another leaf of lettuce in her mouth, hoping they’d switch back soon. She was already starving, though she suspected Weiss was having trouble eating as much as she normally did too. In the end, it seemed they were to suffer together.

“Listen… let’s go now.” Weiss said as she quickly wrapped the burger she’d barely touched and put it carefully in her bag.

Ruby just nodded, knowing that the few leaves of leafy greens left in her bowl would do nothing to temper her hunger. She rose and followed Weiss out of the cafeteria, though to anyone looking it would seem the opposite. Thankfully the halls were almost empty as most students were just beginning their supper after extracurricular training or studies, leaving Ruby and Weiss alone to their thoughts as they walked side by side to the rooftop Jaune had agreed to leave them this evening.

Ruby glanced over at Weiss, still finding it strange to be looking at her own reflection as Weiss glanced at her from the corner of her eye. A small smile met her gaze for a moment before Weiss turned back to the hall, allowing Ruby to do as she wished.

The fact that Weiss had recovered so quickly from the complete confusion they’d woken up to had honestly surprised Ruby, but she supposed that worse things could have happened. At least they were safe, and for the most part unaffected. And barring having to maintain each other’s social etiquette, their day honestly hadn’t been that different from normal.

_Except going to the washroom._

Ruby’s thought brought a blush to the pale skin of her partner’s body as she remembered the caress of her own hands in the shower as she washed the most pure and flawless skin she’s ever seen.

Without noticing the rest of their walk, Ruby arrived on the roof with Weiss one step behind her, closing the door as Ruby moved to sit on the ground next to the ledge. Somehow it seemed fitting for the day to hide from the scenery the building overlooked. If only to ensure focus on their current dilemma.

“Here… before we talk…” Weiss mumbled as she handed the remains of her burger to Ruby. Her blue eyes looked up at her questioningly for a moment before Weiss sighed and answered the question she knew Ruby wasn’t asking. “It’s fine… one burger won’t kill my body, and it looks like you need it.”

“Thanks Weiss… I’m sorry.” Ruby apologized as she took the burger and took a bite larger than any Weiss had ever taken in her body. In fact it was somewhat interesting to see her own cheeks puffed out as she chewed before swallowing and promptly taking another large bite. The scene was somewhat hypnotizing to Weiss as she watched herself eat, but even if it was her body, she could only see Ruby in the movements, the way she chewed, the way she gulped all her food down at once making her throat visibly jump as the food was swallowed. Even the way her eyes closed just slightly as she was tasting the fairly poor excuse for a burger that the cafeteria had made. As she finished, she noticed Weiss sitting next to her and staring. She felt her face warm as blood rushed to it before she swallowed her last bite and spoke. “Uh… sorry, I figured you wouldn’t care how I eat since you’re the only one here.”

“No reason to apologize…” Weiss said, though she didn’t look away. “It’s kind of funny, it’s almost like I can see you in my body. Or more accurately that my body seems to be doing the exact same thing that you do. It’s… an interesting thing to witness, I suppose.”

A moment of silence passed as Ruby crumpled the wrapper and placed it out of the way next to her. She thought a bit about what Weiss had said as she resettled herself and turned to face her partner.

“You know… I don’t think my body’s ever been as refined as you were eating those cookies this morning.” Ruby smirked as her own body shifted restlessly and broke eye contact with her. One thing she’d noticed during the day was that for whatever reason, some of Weiss’s muscle memory seemed to be ingrained in her body, having a specifically noticeable effect when she wasn’t focused. It helped keep her cover more than a few times during the day, and as she suspected, it seemed Weiss had gotten a few of her own tendencies. Though she had to wonder exactly what the origin of all this chaos had been. “Oh, that’s right!”

Weiss looked back up, her shifting stopping as she saw Ruby digging in one of her pockets. She remained silent until she withdrew a pair of crumpled papers. She smoothed them out and glanced at them for a moment before handing one to Weiss.

“So remember my idea about those fortune cookies? Well, I found the fortunes in your bag earlier today and thought we should at least try to figure them out.” Ruby said as she shrugged at Weiss’s look of disbelief. “Cause as much as this is interesting and all… I want to have my own body back, and I bet you do too.”

“Ruby, you know these fortunes are only a gag, right?” Weiss asked as she made sure she had Ruby’s focus. “Some random guy sits at a computer a few hours a week and comes up with random sayings that sound like they might have some profound meaning, when in fact they don’t.”

“And that’s the most cynical thing I’ve ever heard my body say.” Ruby replied with a smirk. “Come on Weiss, I know that they’re made up, but you have to wonder what the heck happened to us. Last I checked, waking up as your best friend doesn’t happen too often… or ever really, and I have no idea where else to start.”

“Fine, Ruby. I’ll humour you… but don’t be too disappointed when we don’t make any headway okay? Mine says… _Hearts reflected nd_.” Weiss said as she raised her brow. “And the next line says _Iron Wills Painted_. But the spacing is strange, almost like there should be more words than are written, or at least a few more letters.”

Ruby smiled at the observation she’d already made at glancing at the fortunes earlier, but she hadn’t had much time to give it any thought. “Mine says _delievnu hturT a_. And the next line says _kniP era lliT_.”

“Well, it’s spelt backward, isn’t it?” Weiss asked, noticing an interesting pattern with the capitalization immediately as Ruby showed it to her. As she looked, she also noticed that the letters were mirrored.

“That’s what I thought too. Forward, it says _A Truth unveiled_ , and _Till are Pink_.” Ruby nodded as she looked at the spacing Weiss had mentioned. “There’s definitely a spacing issue with this one too.”

“Hmm…” Weiss thought as she took a closer look at Ruby’s fortune and passed her her own to inspect. Unlike the fortune with words spelt in the right order, this one had raised lettering that seemed almost flaky. She scratched lightly at the corner of the capital P. It didn’t come off, but when she reached out to inspect the paper with her aura, the letter fell from the page and landed on the cement as if it had been printed directly on the roof beneath them.

“Well, that’s strange…” Weiss mumbled as Ruby looked at Weiss inspecting the capital P that lay on the roof between them. Ruby snapped her fingers, bringing Weiss’s eyes back to her own. Ruby looked at the paper in her hand and Weiss handed it back as Ruby turned toward the setting sun and held it up backward.

“ _A Truth unveiled, Till are Pink_ is what it would have said if the P hadn’t fallen off.” Ruby stated as she then turned back to Weiss, while lining up the two papers ink to ink before activating her aura. After a brief flare, she handed the papers to Weiss who carefully peeled them apart, leaving the ink from the backward fortune on the other.

“ _Hearts reflected and Truth unveiled, Till Iron Wills are Painted Pink_.” Weiss read as she already started thinking. “Well… okay, other than being far more complex than the average drivel that comes on a paper in the middle of a cookie, it still means nothing.”

“Come on, Weiss… it’s a riddle. We already figured out the hard part by proving they’re connected.” Ruby pointed out with a small laugh. “Will you keep going with me? I bet we can solve this thing together!”

“Ruby, it’s a riddle, that’s it. There’s no magic to it, or whatever power you think it has.” Weiss said as Ruby just stared back at her. Weiss bit her tongue as she kept watching her partner in her own body. If they were in their own bodies, Weiss already knew Ruby would be using her puppy dog eyes, but it seemed it was hard to say no to Ruby despite that. And after a moment, Weiss sighed in defeat. “Fine, then _hearts reflected_ seems to be what happened with us. We swapped bodies, but we’re still ourselves.”

“That seems right… and _truth unveiled_ … maybe a secret or something?” Ruby asked, her face mirroring Weiss’s curious eyebrow raise a little too well for Weiss’s liking. “Is there a secret that would involve both of us that either of us isn’t telling? I mean, after all that stuff with Blake, we’ve been pretty clear with each other, right? I know I am.”

“Well, you don’t know everything about me, and I’m sure I don’t know everything about you, but you can be sure I’m trying to make sure that what happened with Blake doesn’t repeat. So I’m not sure about any secrets, but if that is the case it’s just a matter of time until it comes up, right?” Weiss replied as she looked down at the paper, if only to break her eye contact with her partner. “The next part seems to be a little easier though. _Till Iron Wills are Painted Pink_. Things are pink when they’re delicate, cute, or romantic. Things are also pink when they’re feminine, or when they’re being surrendered, or maybe it’s referring to something literally painted in this case. Either way, colour tends to go with emotions in most text so we should keep in mind that something to do with our emotions is likely being referred to.”

“Then iron might refer to a colour too, I guess… unless it’s talking about some kind of metal.” Ruby mentioned as she thought about the remaining words. “Or some kind of toughness or stubbornness since it refers to an iron will.”

The two fell to silence as they honestly thought about the riddle. No new information seemed possible to find, so Weiss let it go. She had expected this outcome from the start, but it didn’t change the fact that there was no way to even start to guess at why they’d switched bodies.

“Well, enough of that nonsense… there’s no way to move forward without some kind of hint. I guess if, and I’m just saying if for the sake of argument, the fortune _did_ do something to make us switch bodies, then whenever the fortune is complete or fulfilled it’ll switch us back.” Weiss sighed in defeat as she slumped down against the ledge of the roof. “That is assuming it actually is the origin of this… dilemma.”

“Come on, Weiss… there’s no need to be down. I’m sure we’ll figure it out soon. Plus, this whole thing has kind of helped me understand you a bit more.” Ruby confided as she bumped her shoulder into her partner’s.

“Oh, do tell.” Weiss almost laughed. She too had gained a better understanding of her partner over the day.

“Well, lets see… for starters, do you realize how hard it is to fight with your heels?” Ruby asked with a raised brow. “I mean, you might as well fight on the tips of your toes.”

“So funny… says the girl who lugs around a ten pound bag full of cookie crumbs.” Weiss shot back while returning the challenging look.

A moment passed as the two seemingly glared daggers at each other before they burst into laughter.

“Okay, that’s fair.” Ruby conceded after she calmed down.

“Yes, well… I think I actually did learn something about you as well.” Weiss said as she noticed how Ruby was looking at her with great interest. A heartbeat passed and with it, a slight glint danced behind the mirror of her own eyes that she couldn’t quite place. “I just hope… that I’m not the only one…”

Ruby’s breath caught, and the pale skin she wore blushing madly as her brain raced to process Weiss’s words. There was a small hope that only kept growing as they shared their gaze. “W-what if I said I do too…”

So involved were the two, trying to see the hidden meaning behind the words of their partner that neither noticed the door slowly open an inch, allowing a certain older sister to look out at the couple.

Yang stopped and watched, already knowing of her sister’s crush on her teammate, even if she knew Ruby was oblivious herself. But Ruby wasn’t who she was concerned about, as she wondered about Weiss’s feelings and if she’d return Ruby’s. The two had seemed oddly distracted earlier, with neither acting quite like themselves, and she suspected it had something to do with what they had disappeared to talk about. She realized too late, unfortunately, that she wouldn’t actually be able to hear without the assistance of Blake, who she’d left in their dorm. She shrugged to herself and decided to just watch for a moment or two to see what was happening.

“Ruby, I… you really are my best friend.” Weiss said meekly, blushing and easily matching Ruby’s cape that was wrapped around her.

“You’re my best friend too, Weiss!” Ruby’s voice raced in reply as she glanced down for a moment. “B-but i-if you want, maybe we can…”

“Yes?” Weiss’s deathly whisper had Ruby shaking her head quickly as she realized what had come out of her mouth. And just as Weiss started to consider what had been on the tip of her partner’s tongue, she felt herself pulling Ruby in to a tight hug that she quickly returned without a second thought.

They didn’t talk as they hugged tightly but comfortably, simply enjoying the connection of their emotions that had yet to be named, even to themselves.

Seeing that Ruby had made the first move, Yang nodded to herself as she saw Weiss’s body language only exude a sense of reciprocity. Had it been anything else, she thought she’d interrupt the heart to heart, but instead decided to just step back and let her sister enjoy the moment.

The slight click of the door shutting caught Weiss’s attention and she let Ruby go to look at the door. It seemed closed now, and she blushed harder as she realized someone might have found herself and Ruby sitting and hugging in the sunset.

“Hey Weiss?” Ruby asked curiously. “What are we?”

Weiss just smiled at the question she knew Ruby would ask. To be honest, she wasn’t quite ready to put a label on it, or even think about labelling it for that matter, but she knew Ruby would want one to mark it as different than the best teammates title they’d given each other previously. She knew they were more than simple friends, and best friends sounded far too typical for what she honestly considered the most unique relationship she’d ever been a part of.

“We’re still just us, Ruby. I’m… I’m fine with whatever you want to call it, though.” Weiss mumbled as she leaned forward and hid her face in Ruby’s shoulder. Her heart was beating wildly as she awaited Ruby’s response. Ruby rubbed her back soothingly and after a moment, she whispered her reply.

“So… super-duper best friends forever times a million?” She asked as she changed her pattern of rubbing from circles to a big eight. The term didn’t really mean anything new, but the way it sounded so childish, and exactly like something Ruby would come up with, made Weiss’s heart race in anticipation of what she’d call the next level of their relationship as it continued to evolve.

Weiss just nodded, knowing Ruby would feel her answer. She wasn’t quite sure about this whole relationship thing she’d been considering more and more lately, but she knew without a doubt that Ruby was different than anyone else she’d ever known. Maybe she’d wake up and today would just be a strange dream, but maybe not. She silently hoped that it wasn’t a dream. After all, how often was it that you found yourself in the body of your best friend? And how often did that best friend also show such an interest in you that they actually managed to _be_ you for the whole day without being found out?

Weiss felt her face burn with all the blood rushing to it as she pulled Ruby closer. And so she finally found her voice to confirm Ruby’s suggestion.

“Yes Ruby, that sounds perfect.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompts for day 3 were: Secret Relationship AU, Valentine, and Whispering closely to another’s ear.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Come on Weiss, we’ll be late to the opening!” Weiss called back at Ruby. Ruby jogged as fast as she could in her partner’s body, skimming through the countless other convention goers on her way back to her partner. It didn’t help that she couldn’t move as fast as she’d like since her semblance was currently stuck with her partner, and Weiss’s semblance was more tricky to figure out than Ruby had thought.

“I’m back…” Ruby huffed, holding out a drink for her partner as she caught her breath.

“Thank you Ruby.” Weiss smiled as she spoke under her breath so only Ruby could hear. She couldn’t tell if anyone in the crowd would recognize her, but it was safer to be as discrete as possible. The last thing Weiss wanted was to be turned into some kind of science experiment. She quickly spun the top off of the water bottle Ruby had brought back for her and downed half of it in large gulps. Ruby scowled at the sight and shook her head in defeat, choosing not to comment on the action as she stood back up.

“Well, let’s find our seats.” Ruby spoke with a small smirk at her partner as they walked into the nearby display room where a large curtain covered the middle of the room, ready for the unveiling of a surprise last-minute addition nobody but the organizers knew about.

Weiss shook Ruby, giving her an excuse to let out some of her excitement in the form of seemingly disturbed protests to her partner’s manhandling, knowing just how hard it was for Ruby to stay calm and quiet at the Vale Weapons Convention. It had been a long-standing plan to attend, and Ruby had been growing more excited by the day. The fact that she now had to contain that excitement and display a face of indifference made Weiss disappointed that Ruby couldn’t have as much fun as she wanted.

So naturally, as the super-duper best friend forever times a million that she was, Weiss had taken it into her own hands to make sure they did everything that they’d already planned together and more. Playing the force of nature that was Ruby Rose was definitely not easy for Weiss, who was used to repressing all the tendencies she was now consciously exhibiting, but she knew Ruby had it even worse.

Guns weren’t just a hobby for Ruby. They were her entire life, and her life depended on them, especially in the case of her Crescent Rose. So when there was a convention focused solely on that central part of her life, it was only natural that she’d be excited to find out what other people in the larger world were doing to increase their efficiencies with existing weapons, or what new types of weapons were being created by smiths or hobbyists like her.

But Weiss had to give Ruby credit for keeping her icy demeanour throughout the entire day so far, and it was already almost over.

In fact this was the last showing of the day, after which there was nothing scheduled except a few information booths that would remain open as everything was packed away before heading to Atlas. Since they’d come early though, they’d already seen everything that the convention had to offer except whatever was the focus of this last event.

“Ladies and Gentlemen!” The room’s speakers boomed, shaking the air of the room, getting the crowd’s attention immediately. Weiss knew there were at least a couple hundred people in the huge hall, and all of them fell silent almost immediately as the lights dimmed and spotlights started spinning around the crowd.

“Welcome to the grand finale of the Vale Weapons Convention, and we’d like to thank you all for another great year!”

The crowd erupted, and Weiss joined in, jumping up just for Ruby to play her part to the letter, catching her hood and pulling her back to her seat.

Weiss noticed how her fingers drifted down, clenching on a bit of the borrowed cloak that she thought Weiss wouldn’t notice. Out of the spirit of the day, Weiss allowed Ruby to do as she liked, feeling that it had been punishment enough to have to reign herself in as much as she had. Plus, it was her cloak anyway.

The crowd fell silent as a loud mechanical roar sounded and smoke started flowing from behind the curtain before the noise cut off. The smell of exhaust filled the room quickly, though the doors all around the hall remained open to allow air to flow through. The crowd seemed to hover on the edge of their seat as the announcer walked out from behind the curtain and waved.

“Alright everyone, we have one last treat for you! Wanna see it?” He shouted before holding his microphone out to the crowd which exploded with cheers. “Oh, come on, DO YOU WANNA SEE IT?”

Weiss cringed even as she tried to scream louder for her partner as she felt Ruby’s hand clench tighter in her cloak. The crowd was deafening and Weiss almost missed it when the announcer stepped back and started talking again.

“This weapon might be a relic from times past, but it and others like it remain as the first, and some might argue only, Goliath Killing Machines humanity has ever developed. Despite their weight, these weapons saw massive use in clearing areas to be inhabited by humans in Vale, Mistral, and Atlas. They could fire rounds that could put holes clean through a Goliath’s skull plating, and were in some cases agile enough to hunt down entire packs of Boarbatusk with the advent of the High Explosive Dust Charge!”

The crowd was on the edge of their seat as the announcer described a weapon Weiss didn’t recognize immediately, though she found it sounded fairly familiar.

“Ladies and Gentlemen! Citizens and Hunters! Humans and Faunus! I present to you the sixteen ton master of the battlefield.” The announcer waved and stepped aside as the curtain started to raise painfully slowly behind him. “I present to you the Valentine Mark Six Main Infantry Battle Tank. Armed with a forty millimetre main cannon-”

The crowd exploded as the curtain rose far enough to finally reveal the entire tank, and the announcers description was lost in the sheer amount of noise as the tank stood resolutely before them.

Weiss pulled Ruby to her feet and leaned close for a moment, giving her permission to cheer along. The sheer chaos was the perfect cover, and Weiss suspected it would be difficult for anyone to actually observe her acting in a manner unbefitting her heritage with the cheering that just intensified as the top hatch of the tank opened and a dog faunus crawled out of the hatch.

Ruby cheered loudly, gripping Weiss’s hand hard, as she let out all the contained excitement she felt.

Weiss pulled Ruby back down as the crowd started to quiet. The tank commander waved as the announcer passed the microphone to her.

“Alright folks, some of you might know about a little essay contest we were running a few weeks ago at From Dust till Dawn. Turns out we have a winner, and she’s sitting in the audience right now!” She waited for the cheers and clapping to die down before she continued. “As for the prize, well there’s the advertised shopping spree at from Dust Till Dawn of ten thousand lien, but we have something a little more special here. In the spirit of making weapons fun again, we want to paint this Valentine a new colour for it’s next appearance at the Atlas Weapons Expo, so the winner will also have a chance to pick the colour if they can answer three questions about this Valentine! Hopefully Atlas might take the hint and get some colour other than white for their weapons!”

The crowd laughed and Weiss noticed Ruby’s eyes grow slightly as what was being said sunk in. As if on cue, Ruby turned to her and quickly whispered something.

“What?” Weiss asked, keeping her voice under the noise of the crowd, but it seemed with the noise, Ruby couldn’t hear and just nodded.

“Alright, the winner of the shopping spree and the chance to start painting this magnificent mobile weapon is none other than Beacon Academy’s Ruby Rose! Come on up!”

Weiss froze as Ruby’s eyes went wide. Weiss just smiled for a moment before squeezing Ruby’s hand and pulling her to her feet.

“Weiss, what?” Ruby stuttered as Weiss pulled her along without waiting for her to catch her balance.

“Just go with the flow and act like me.” Weiss replied with a wink as they landed on the main floor before approaching the announcer and tank commander.

“Well hello, why don’t you introduce yourselves to the crowd?” The announcer asked as he approached Ruby and Weiss, meeting them right in front of the tank.

“Hi! I’m Ruby and this is Weiss, my partner at Beacon!” Weiss responded as she channelled Ruby’s excitement into her voice.

“Well congratulations on winning the essay contest and the shopping spree! As students of our hunting academy I know that it will be well used for everyone’s benefit! Now if you can answer three questions about the Valentine Mark Six, you can pick the colour the tank will be painted. And thanks to our state of the art colour mix brush provided by our partners at Rooster Interiors and Renovations, we’ll be able to paint it right before everyone’s eyes!” The announcer said more to the crowd than to Weiss, though her small wave seemed to catch his attention. “Question?”

“Yeah, um… I know I won and all, but my partner’s an even bigger weapons expert than I am, but she’s too embarrassed to admit it. Can she answer the questions for me?”

“Hey!” Ruby almost sounded like Weiss herself but Weiss could tell she was trying her best to act as the blush that was working its way up her neck was a sure tell that she was really hopeful that Weiss’s suggestion landed.

“Well, that is an interesting request!” The announcer thought aloud before turning to the commander before getting a short answer whispered back. “Let’s ask the crowd! What do you in the crowd think? Ruby’s proved her mettle with her essay, should we let Weiss prove hers on the spot?”

The crowd exploded again. There was no way to tell what was being yelled, except that it seemed everyone was happy to just make noise. Though it seemed the announcer was hearing something Weiss wasn’t as he nodded in understanding, as if listening to each of the shouts at the same time.

“Alright then!” The announcer shouted into his microphone as he turned with a flourish back to Weiss. “The crowd has spoken, so lets see if your teammate is the expert you think she is! Now, don’t hesitate too long on your answers or we’ll have to disqualify you, and here comes question one! What was the alternate name the Valentine also goes by?”

“Infantry Tank Mark Three!” Ruby replied without a second of hesitation, startling the announcer as the crowd fell silent to watch.

“Let’s see…” The commander whispered into his ear again and he smiled. “That’s correct! Two questions left! What was the crew composition, including roles and number of crew members that operated a Valentine Mark Six?”

“Hmm…” Ruby thought for barely a moment this time as she smiled. “The Mark One, Two, Four, and Six through Eleven all had a crew of three members comprising of a commander, gunner and a driver. The Mark Three and Five also had a loader making the crew four strong.”

“Excellent answer!” The announcer shouted, as the crowd matched his amplified voice in shouts. “Now for the final question, what is the secondary weapon on this Mark Six?”

“Um…” Ruby thought, and Weiss realized Ruby was actually thinking for once. She glanced at the tank, realizing there was no real way to tell just from looking what specific gun was mounted. As she realized this, she saw Ruby smile again. “That depends… out of all the Mark Sixes, how many were built before this one?”

“We’ve got a real clever one here!” The announcer spoke to the crowd gaining a few chuckles from others who probably knew the same thing Ruby was thinking about. “This is actually the eleventh of it’s type to be built.”

“Then the secondary machine gun is a seven point nine two millimetre belt-fed air-cooled machine gun.” Ruby replied with a smile, already knowing she’d gotten the question right.

“Correct!” The announcer shouted as the crowd erupted. The noise was terrific, and only after a few minutes of cheering did the commander wave for quiet again. As the relative quiet returned, the commander was passed the microphone and smiled down at Ruby and Weiss.

“Well, these two aren’t hunters in training for nothing! They certainly know their stuff. You can check out Ruby’s winning essay on our convention’s website, and you heard Weiss’s answers here yourself!” She complimented while talking to the crowd. “So now it’s time to pick the colour of the tank, but it seems like they’ll need to decide who gets to choose as we only have one paint mixer.”

Weiss looked at Ruby and shrugged before smiling, knowing her partner would love to do the choosing. Ruby picked up the message and nodded before stepping forward.

“Can we do a design?” Ruby asked as the commander smiled and nodded. “Okay, then let’s get a base of a sky blue!”

It took a few minutes, but the entire tank was soon painted blue with the automated paint mixer feeding the paint straight to a robotic arm carrying an air brush and a curing heater to dry the coat as it was applied.

“Now let’s have…” Ruby leaned up and whispered her idea to the commander who thought for a moment and nodded before typing into the computer again. The crowd watched as radiant red racing stripes were painted along the side. Then it moved to the sides of the turret and painted a pink rose on one side before moving to the other.

“And there you have it, fantastic job! Blue is a fine colour for a tank, and a hint of colour adds personality to the weapon. Because…” She held out her microphone to the crowd that exploded with the convention’s slogan of _Weapons are Fun_ just as the tank’s display started rotating. Weiss was surprised as she noticed her emblem on the opposite side of the turret in the same pink as Ruby’s, as she was handed a gift card for the weapons shop Ruby frequented and then told she could leave the stage now.

Ruby and her returned to their seats as they started talking about other weapons and the question and answer period started.

“Hey, wanna get out of here?” Ruby asked quietly as a good number of the crowd started to leave after seeing the tank and most of the show.

“Are you sure? I really don’t mind, you know.” Weiss said with a blush as Ruby nodded.

“Let’s go.”

Ruby led Weiss out of the hall and before they knew it they were back on the rooftop of their dorm after finally saying bye to a few other students that had accompanied them on the airship from Vale. It was always nice to talk to other teams considering it was so easy to stay within the same group of people at Beacon, and it seemed Ruby’s love of weapons was a great conversation starter when used properly.

Weiss sighed as she took a deep breath and looked out over the campus, knowing that the entire day had been wasted without figuring out why she’d been forced to act like Ruby again. And as much as it was a simple task and easy to forget about it while she was in character, she missed Ruby in her own body. It was strange to see Ruby reign herself in so much, and Weiss wondered how they’d ever find out how to switch back.

Suddenly, she felt a pair of delicate arms wrap around her waist as a head rested on her shoulder and looked out at the setting sun. Normally Weiss wasn’t one for contact like this, but it had been a long day and she honestly enjoyed the contact from her partner.

“Hey Weiss? Thanks for taking me today. Even though you had to pretend to be excited for everything.” Ruby mumbled into her ear, her breath tickling Weiss in a way that made her heart beat faster with each word. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be okay going with this whole thing going on.”

“You’re welcome.” Weiss responded with a smile to herself as she shifted slightly as the strange feeling of her own body pressed against her. “I think all the trouble was worth it… I enjoyed spending the day with you as well.”

They were silent for a moment, simply letting the peace between them last until Ruby shifted slightly and took long breath as if to calm herself. Weiss didn’t say anything as she could tell Ruby was hesitating on something, but she couldn’t deny that she liked the feeling of closeness they had at the moment. It was like something Weiss hadn’t known she’d wanted was suddenly hanging just in front of her, but she was content to just enjoy it while it lasted without questioning it too much. It was almost like if she said something it would disappear.

“Do you mind if I ask you something?” Ruby asked eventually. Ruby’s voice was quiet enough that even with Weiss’s ear to her mouth, Weiss had to strain to hear her words.

“Of course, Ruby. Anything.” Weiss’s response was quiet, but free of hesitation. If anything, Weiss wanted to tell Ruby she shouldn’t have to keep asking her that question at this point. Her answer had never been anything else.

“How… how have you managed to act just like me? I mean, we know each other and we’re friends, but you even managed to remember to do things I didn’t realize you noticed about me.” Ruby mumbled as she held her partner. The question felt light, but Weiss could tell Ruby really wanted to know the answer.

“I never really thought about it too much.” Weiss replied as she closed her eyes and leaned back into her own body that was supporting her. “I guess… when something came up… I thought about you, and I imagined you in that situation… and then I just acted like you did in my mind. I’m sorry if it’s not much of an explanation, but what about you? You’ve done surprisingly well having to become me.”

Ruby hummed for a moment as she thought of Weiss’s response and how to answer her question. She could tell her heart was racing from their closeness, but she didn’t want to make a mistake and ruin their friendship if she was wrong.

“Well… this is kind of embarrassing, but… you’ve kind of become a role model for me.” Ruby frowned at her words and back-tracked to avoid any confusion she knew might come from them. “That’s not really right though, there are certain things about you I really admire. And being a couple years behind everyone, I thought if I could somehow learn and maybe be better at things like talking to everyone and keeping my emotions under better control, I could get along better with everyone. And maybe I wouldn’t be treated like the child that everyone treats me like, and that I know I am.”

“That’s not right.” Weiss’s sharp tone in Ruby’s voice caught Ruby by surprise. And she hugged her partner a little tighter in a plea to continue her thoughts. “You belong here just as much as any one of us. Just because you’re a little younger, doesn’t mean that you are a child any more than the rest of us are. Sure you can be difficult to get along with at times, but that goes for all of us. You belong here with me.”

Ruby’s slight nervous shifting stopped as she felt her cheeks on Weiss’s body flood with a deep blush. It took a few moments for her to get past the lump that had formed in her throat and reply, but it might as well have been seconds as time had by this point lost all meaning as the reds of the sky slowly faded to purple and inky blues.

“I belong with you?” Ruby asked, bracing her arms when she felt Weiss try to pull away weakly. She could tell there was no real intent in it, more a reflex than a wish to step away, which was proven true when Weiss relaxed back into her a moment later.

“Yes.” Was the simple answer Weiss gave. There was no better way to explain the feeling she had when she’d been trying to correct her partner. Ruby belonged here at Beacon with her. And Weiss smiled as she finally found the words to explain it in a stroke of clarity that passed over her. “You’ve helped me become a better person since we met. You continue to help me be the person I want to be, and you make me want to keep trying to improve. Without you… Beacon wouldn’t feel like my true home.”

Ruby stepped back as Weiss turned only to gasp, as Ruby dived back in. For a moment, Weiss didn’t realize what was happening. Or for a more accurate summary, she’d frozen as her brain slowly processed the gentle caress of her own lips on Ruby’s. Weiss closed her eyes reflexively as she wrapped Ruby in a hug of her own once she realized Ruby had been the one to kiss her.

And as Weiss smiled and deepened the kiss, surrendering to the race of her heart and the heat she felt burning her lips, she felt something strange like a snap that might come from a stiff joint after a long mission. And just as suddenly, her head was tilted in the opposite direction and her arms were in a different position, wrapping around a body that felt different than the one she’d just been embracing. And her own body felt different, as if the weighty cloak she was wearing was suddenly gone.

She broke the kiss, keeping her eyes closed even as Ruby gasped while observing what Weiss already suspected. As Weiss opened her eyes, she found herself looking into the familiar pools of deep silver that she’d used the past couple of days, but missed seeing so much.

“Should I ask?” Ruby questioned after a moment of silence between them. Weiss thought for a moment and shook her head.

“Nope, not even going to try to figure it out.” Weiss smirked at Ruby as the younger girl blushed at Weiss’s unwavering gaze. “But I do have one question that I will ask. Because you like titles for us so much… how does girlfriend sound to you?”

Ruby’s blush deepened and Weiss suppressed a smirk at how cute Ruby looked as she nodded.

“Great, but…” Weiss trailed off as thoughts of her father and Yang flitted through her head. It’s not like she wanted to hide her relationship with her partner, rather she would most definitely prefer to show it off to get Jaune and a few of the other students off her back, but she had no idea what her family would think, especially when Weiss didn’t know, at least not for certain, that she liked Ruby that way. She’d never really felt anything like what she felt toward her partner, but she couldn’t be sure it was what she hoped it was. Not yet at least.

“Hey Weiss? Um… I kinda…” Ruby took a deep breath before continuing. “I don’t know how Yang will take it, so maybe we should hold off on announcing anything for now? At least until I talk to her about it? Maybe ease her into the idea?”

Weiss sighed with a blush as she realized Ruby was more concerned for her than herself when it came to her sister. But it worked out for Weiss too. She’d need to talk to her father at some point, and hope he saw things her way. Although she doubted it would work out so smoothly.

“Yes, well… I don’t really want my father to find out just yet either… so… secret girlfriends?” Weiss asked as she hooked Ruby’s chin and coaxed her forward again.

“Secret girlfriends.” Ruby nodded before meeting Weiss’s lips once again. They weren’t expected back for a couple hours still, so they took their time coming to terms with their new relationship. The one thing Weiss noticed quickly was that she really didn’t feel strange about the kissing. If anything, it felt like a natural action to perform. And by the time they were heading back to their room, she was wondering why it had taken so long for them to realize their feelings.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompts for day 4 were: Goddesses AU, Connections, and Red to White gradient blending in the middle.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Hey Ruby, wanna join us for a game of intrigue? A game of danger? And more importantly… EVERYONE’S A BADASS!” Nora half asked, half shouted as she almost tackled Ruby who had just closed the lid to a dryer containing the bed sheets her and Weiss had just finished washing.

“Come on, Nora… let go of her.” Ren’s voice joined in as he entered the room. “Hello. Your teammates told us you two were here.”

Weiss nodded to the statement as she discretely folded a dress over the undergarments that had yet to be placed in a washer and turned to the boy who was currently doing very little to save her partner, though Weiss had seen this same scene reenacted at various points throughout her time here. It didn’t help to think about Nora’s hands on her girlfriend though, so she latched onto what the offending girl had said. “So what is this game Nora wants to play?”

“Bunker’s and Badasses.” Ren replied with a shrug. “Nora found it on the web a few days ago and created her own campaign with all of us in it. It’s basically a variation of your standard role playing game.”

“And it’s gonna be the most awesome game ever!” Nora supplied unhelpfully as she finally released Ruby who immediately started gasping to catch her breath after the titanic hug.

“Well, we probably won’t be free long. We have this to finish, then we have other plans this evening.” Weiss stated as she handed the basket of whites to Ruby who was back to sorting her darks from her reds after exchanging a quick glance with her partner.

“I made sure it was a short campaign. It might manage to hit an hour at the most.” Ren supplied as Nora pouted at him.

“Yeah, and you made me get rid of the dinosaur-riding side quest, and the music concert, and the space-time manipulation mechanics!” Nora’s sad voice hesitated for a moment before jumping back to normal. “But anyway, it’s still an awesome campaign, and I already started on another one when we all have more time!”

“Come on, Weiss… I don’t see why we can’t at least see what this game is about.” Ruby cut in to Nora’s sales pitch as she saw the expression that normally preceded Weiss denying something.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. We just thought it might be fun.” Ren supplied in counter to Ruby and Nora’s push, though even Weiss could tell he was just giving her an out if she wanted one.

Weiss took Ruby’s basket of darks and dumped it unceremoniously into a washing machine she already had set up with detergent before turning back to her friends. “Well, let’s go then. But don’t expect us to be any good.”

“Alright!” Nora cheered and pulled Ren out of the room with her insane strength. A moment later Weiss received a ping on her scroll from Ren, telling her the location of their game that Nora had forgotten to mention.

“Well, let’s finish up and get going. Their dorm is a good ten minute walk from here.” Weiss said to her partner who was in the process of setting up the washer next to the one Weiss had dumped their darks into.

“Sure thing, you can go ahead!” Ruby nodded as she dumped the whites into the washer. Weiss left a small kiss on her cheek before she left, looking back at Ruby who waved at her as she left. Once Weiss had turned the corner, Ruby took the detergent and pressed the bubble that was supposed to dispense more of the liquid, only for it to bubble and give her nothing.

With a sigh, Ruby looked around to see the shelf that normally held dozens of bottles of detergent sitting completely empty. A glance around the room only gave the same results and she looked down at her reds.

There wasn’t much she could do with her laundry except come back another day, hoping the detergent would be restocked, but she was also wearing her last set of clothing. Normally she wouldn’t have given it much thought, but now that she was secretly dating Weiss, she didn’t really want to do something that would make her partner think she was a slob. Well, not more than she already did, at least.

With that in mind, she popped the lid of the darks only to find it not only full, but the soap was making a quick attempt to escape. Not wanting to cause more of a mess than needed, she slammed the lid back down and instead opened the one with their whites.

Ruby knew she wasn’t technically supposed to mix whites and reds, but she wasn’t quite sure why. Red was a colour after all, and she’d put some dark blue things in the darks, and Weiss had this nice light green shirt she sometimes wore on weekends mixed in with the whites on occasion. So Ruby supposed mixing her red things, which were also lighter colours, with the whites sounded like a good plan.

So without another thought she dumped the basket into the filling drum and left, her semblance’s rose petals falling as she raced to catch up to Weiss.

It wasn’t long before Weiss and her had sat down across from their friends. Blake and Yang had been training, so it seemed only the six of them were going to play. And as they were getting started, Nora handed out a card to each of them detailing their character.

“Seriously, Nora? This is ridiculous.” Weiss was the first to comment as she finished reading her own card.

“But it’s perfect for you!” Nora argued, obviously hoping Weiss would just go with it.

“Goddess of Law and Order… special abilities, ranting, raving, and making people feel remorse for their actions regardless of if they were wrong or not.” Weiss read and held up a finger to mute Nora as she opened her mouth. “Likes studying, complaining, and keeping a stick up her-”

“Alright, fine!” Nora complained as she handed another card over to Weiss who’s eyes scanned down it before morphing into a look of shock.

“Um… the first one’s fine.” Weiss shook her head as Ruby opened her mouth, pocketing the spare character profile instead of returning it. “But Nora, if we ever play this game again, we get to make our own characters.”

“Deal!” Nora smiled as she looked around. “So Weiss already did hers, so everyone else has to introduce themselves now!”

They went around introducing themselves as the Goddess of War, God of the Plague, God of Emotion, and Goddess of Death. Basically, Weiss realized the profiles were loosely based on each of them, from a vague reference to Jaune’s _Vomit Boy_ nickname to the way Ruby carried a scythe like the grim reaper.

At first the rules of the game seemed complicated, but it was soon apparent that Nora’s campaign only consisted of a few areas filled with various bad guys to defeat. Though the manner of defeat was somewhat up for debate as it seemed they could only defeat any given monster with the right person’s power after they discovered enough details about it.

“Ah! You’ve discovered my secret! You cannot kill me because I’m already dead! A tortured soul unrepentant from my many crimes when I was alive… if only I could kill one more person before I go back to hell!” Nora rasped as she voiced the monster they were currently trying to defeat. Jaune had just used his _vomit of truth_ ability in combination with Ruby’s _final confession_ to figure out why Pyrrha’s _dismemberment strike_ had failed so spectacularly, losing her a good chunk of her health points that she was now having healed by Ren’s _zen healing_.

“You did what?” Weiss asked as what Nora had said caught her attention. Over the course of the game, Weiss was starting to consider switching to the other character card she kept in her pocket if for no other purpose than because that character at least had some offensive capabilities. Her current character had been mostly idle except for providing fairly standard boosts to her teammates in their battles so far.

“So now I’ll attack you, oh Goddess of Death! With my _torture incarnate_ ability!” Nora’s villain voiced, ignoring Weiss’s question only for Nora to catch Weiss’s gaze and freeze for a moment.

“I’ll distract you from your attack with my _accusatory gaze_.” Weiss announced, catching everyone’s attention as she’d largely just listened along without actually playing the game with them as she tried to figure it out. “Then I’ll weaken your defence with _flawless prosecution_ , increase my damage output and decrease your physical resistance with _trial by your peers_ , and then I believe I can eliminate your remaining health with _capital punishment - burning at the stake_.”

“Quite impressive combination, Weiss!” Pyrrha encouraged as Nora fiddled with a paper where she was doing her math on the enemy’s remaining health. After a moment of watching her fiddle, Weiss felt Ruby squeeze her hand under the table, shooting her a small grin as she looked up.

“Argh! Your combo landed a critical hit!” Nora finally announced as she clutched her chest. “But I still have three points of health left! So now I will use my _fade away_ ability to hide my next attack and heal with the damage I do!”

“Ruby, team attack?” Weiss asked, already knowing exactly what they could do to win.

“I use _shadow of death_ to locate the enemy, and use _fear of the abyss_ to paralyse you!” Ruby announced as Nora acted out being found and then paralysed as she fell out of her chair.

“And I’ll finish the job with _into the slammer_.” Weiss said as Nora cringed.

“Wow Weiss, that was way overkill.” Nora pouted for a moment before smiling again. “But congratulations you guys! You beat the boss of the final room!”

“Well done.” Ren nodded to everyone else as he sat back in his chair after looking to jump into the game if needed.

“I still can’t believe you made every single last one of my abilities vomit based…” Jaune groaned as he flopped onto the table. “ _Vomit breath, projectile vomit, gut wrenching, damage regurgitation, acidic bile, and atomic hurl…_ even I couldn’t make this stuff up…”

“It’s alright, Jaune. We’ll make our own characters next time.” Pyrrha laughed as she patted her leader on the back.

“Oh, but between us, we should definitely choose Blake and Yang’s characters for them the first time they play! This was pretty fun!” Ruby jumped in quickly.

“Yes, I’ll admit it was… different than what I was expecting.” Weiss admitted, prompting Nora to gasp and fall from her chair again. “But since we’re picking… Yang’s character definitely has to be called Brick, and the only abilities she gets should be punching related.”

“Weiss?” Ruby asked after hearing Weiss’s idea even as Nora was already scribbling on a new page of her notebook.

“Well it’ll fit her well enough…” Weiss grinned, making Ruby realize she hadn’t really meant anything by it.

“Oh, then Blake definitely has to be a ninja of some sort… maybe an assassin? Or no, wait… a samurai, and her abilities need to not be able to chain together, but do high physical damage.” Ruby brainstormed quickly. “Oh, and I have an idea for your next character, Jaune-”

A beeping cut Ruby off as Weiss pulled out her scroll.

“Our laundry should be done now.” She stated as she rose from her seat.

“Well thanks for playing with us.” Ren said in farewell as he walked them to the door. “Maybe we can do this again on a weekend sometime.”

“Maybe, we’ll play it by ear.” Ruby nodded as she and Weiss left the room.

It only took a few moments to get out of earshot of anyone in the halls before Ruby leaned her head closer to Weiss.

“You know, I wouldn’t mind playing that game again… as long as we’re not busy on a date when they ask.”

The result of the short comment was enough to make her partner blush and quickly look around, even though they were quite alone as they made the trek back to the laundry room.

After they arrived, Weiss closed the door behind them and locked it before turning on Ruby.

“You are going to get us noticed.” Weiss told her partner unimpressed with her earlier quip. “We really don’t want Nora to find out we’re dating otherwise everyone in Vale will know within the hour, and eventually it’ll get back to my father, and-”

Weiss trailed off as Ruby’s finger met her lips and shushed her.

“Everything will be okay Weiss. Trust me.” Ruby smiled reassuringly. “I mean, what’s the absolute worst he could do? We’re already one of the top teams at Beacon and we’re only in our first year. That has to say something, right?”

“Well…” Weiss took a deep breath to calm herself and let it out before meeting her partners eyes. “I just don’t want to drag you into all the politics is all. That’s how my family works, all that matters to them, at least to my father, is how much money you have and how important in high society you are. He’s tried at least a dozen times to set me up on dates with a son of some business partner or another before. He always said things along the lines of wanting me to have an heir, which is why he definitely won’t approve of you.”

“Weiss, listen to me… a wise man once said there are only two rules… what a person can do, and what a person can’t do.” Ruby replied as she shook her finger at her partner. “For example, I _can_ learn to deal with all the politics of your life. I _can_ deal with whatever baddies come our way, with you backing me up of course. And I _can_ make sure that my best friend in the world takes the time to relax instead of being so concerned over _everything_ all of the time!”

Weiss smiled slightly at Ruby’s argument, she’d always known Ruby was different, but actually hearing Ruby committing to their day-old relationship as secret girlfriends sent a thrill through her heart. Of course, even if the state of the relationship was new, they had been best friends for a long while already.

“What I _can’t_ do, Weiss… is make these sorts of decisions alone. I _can’t_ force myself into your life, and I _can’t_ make you want me in your life.” Ruby said seriously as she looked into her partner’s eyes. Weiss sighed and nodded as she leaned back against the washers next to Ruby. “That is up to you.”

“You’re already in my life, you dolt.” Weiss muttered as Ruby moved in front of her. She took the opportunity to wrap her arms around Ruby’s neck and pull her in for a short kiss. Just enough to tell Ruby she wasn’t that upset over her comment in the hall. “Listen… I know keeping it a secret isn’t going to be easy, and there will be times we want to tell people about it, but we should at least _try_ to keep it a secret for a while to save us more than a few headaches that my family will cause. At least if it gets out later on, it’ll be harder for them to argue that our relationship isn’t what it is.”

Ruby just nodded as she smiled at her partner. She let Weiss turn around, and made sure her arms were wrapped securely over her waist as her head rested on Weiss’s shoulder.

“But this is nice, right?” Ruby asked, suddenly unsure about what was okay and what wasn’t.

“Yes, Ruby… the door is locked, so you’re fine.” Weiss replied as she pulled open the washer, blinking for a moment as what she saw started to compute. “Um… did you put your reds in with my whites?”

“Yeah, I figured you put a green shirt in there last week, and red’s a colour, so why not?” Ruby shrugged as she sighed and let go of Weiss to open the next washer with their darks.

“Ruby, do you know why you don’t mix reds and whites?” Weiss asked, her voice giving away her frustration as Ruby leaned over and looked into the drum.

“Ohmygod… I’m sorry…” Ruby gasped as Weiss pulled out her combat jacket that was now stained a dusty pink.

“Oh, you’ll be sorry alright.” Weiss said as she reached in and pulled out one of Ruby’s favourite shirts. Due to the bleach Weiss had added, it was now almost the same shade as Weiss’s jacket, having lost most of it’s colour in the wash.

“No… is it all like this?” Ruby asked just as Weiss nodded. A look of horror affixed itself to Ruby’s face as she sunk to her knees. “I’m soooo sorry… please don’t break up with me!”

“Ruby, look at me.” Weiss sighed as she crouched down in front of her partner. “This is… unfortunate… but what’s done is done. I can only hope you’ve learnt your lesson from this… mishap.”

“Never again!” Ruby nodded vigorously as Weiss reached out to her shoulder.

“Then lets keep going, we still need to get to Vale for our _shopping trip_.” Weiss reminded, using her fingers to put air quotes around the excuse they’d made to escape their team to have a nice dinner together as a first date.

“Are you sure? I mean, I kind of stained your whole wardrobe pink…” Ruby asked uncertainly.

“Well…” Weiss didn’t try to hide the blush she felt creeping up her face as she broke eye contact. “It might be kind of nice, if we aren’t broadcasting our relationship, to at least wear something matching in colour now and then.”

Ruby couldn’t help but lean in to steal a kiss at how cute Weiss was acting. Again, it didn’t last long before Weiss stood and resumed pulling clothing from the washer without a word to her.

Ruby smiled to herself, seeing that Weiss was still blushing even after she started to load the dryer. Maybe it was a huge mistake, but maybe it wasn’t as terrible as Ruby had first thought. She honestly hoped Weiss was as okay with it as she had said, but even Ruby knew she’d know one way or another by tomorrow.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompts for day 5 were: Nap Time and/or Cuddles, Curse, and A Red Rose laying on a broken Mirror.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Alright class, today we… Ms. Schnee, what in the world are you wearing?” Professor Oobleck faltered as he entered the class and almost immediately looked over his large glasses as if wondering if they were dirty enough to distort his student’s image.

There were more than a few giggles in the class as Weiss took a steadying breath as her teeth grit together in barely repressed anger. Ruby was watching her hesitantly, being the only person in the entire world that knew the real story of why Weiss’s clothing was mostly pink, and why her own reds save her cloak seemed washed out.

But whereas Ruby always wore bright red, the pink they looked now could be easily explained with the excuse that they were older garments. It also helped that black still dominated her outfit, making the washed out reds even less noticeable.

“Just a small mishap with my laundry is all, sir.” Weiss replied as she had to every teacher and several students and friends throughout the day. Everyone assumed that Weiss had messed up her laundry, but only Ruby knew that they routinely did their laundry together as Ruby had very few whites, and Weiss had very few reds and darks. So it often worked out more efficiently than doing their laundry individually, which meant more time for other things.

“Hmm… so it is… well, back to the topic at hand. Today we’ll be going over the faunus civil rights movement ten years prior to the founding of the White Fang.” Oobleck’s voice started and was almost immediately droned out as Weiss’s eyes lost focus.

Weiss quietly groaned as she closed her eyes and took deep breaths through her nose. Her head felt like a spike had been driven through it, and it didn’t help that every hour she had to deal with a new group of people either asking her about her wardrobe or laughing at her for the mishap that wasn’t even her fault. Not that she blamed Ruby. She didn’t blame Ruby for this. Anyone could have made the same mistake if they didn’t know better, and Ruby, probably never having owned white clothing in her life, had no clue as to the effect mixing her reds with Weiss’s whites would have.

“Weiss? Are you okay?” Ruby asked in a whisper, and the concern in her voice was potent for a good reason. Weiss had been like this ever since lunch, with each class only seeming tougher and tougher for her partner to sit through. And even though they only had this one class left, watching her partner suffer with such a bad headache was still tough.

Weiss just nodded slightly to Ruby’s question, but made no attempt to open her eyes again.

“Ms. Schnee, please pay attention in class!” Oobleck called suddenly as he smacked his pointer across his desk, making Weiss’s eyes snap open. Ruby immediately noticed the red in them and spoke up before her teammate could apologize.

“Sorry sir, Weiss won’t say anything, but she’s been a bit under the weather today and didn’t want to miss class.” Ruby said, knowing full well she risked her partner’s ire by answering in her stead. But Weiss’s health was more important to her, and if it meant getting her to lie down and take a break then Ruby was more than happy to sit through a lecture or two.

“Hmm… then perhaps you should take some time to yourself, Ms. Schnee. A sound mind and body are both required for this education to be effective.” Oobleck suggested only for Weiss to shake her head.

“It’s alright, sir. I’m-” Weiss paused as Ruby’s hand landed on her shoulder, a quiet plea slipping through her lips just loud enough for Weiss to hear. Weiss hesitated for a moment before her resolve wavered in favour of finally getting back to her dorm. “I’m sorry, I’ll… just go rest.”

“Yes, well, perhaps your leader should ensure you are alright.” He suggested, disconcerted at Weiss’s tone that sounded more defeated than he’d ever heard her.

He turned and continued his lecture as Ruby packed their things in a flash and guided Weiss out of the hall. All it took was a small thumbs-up to ensure the other half of their team knew they would be fine.

As soon as they entered their room, Weiss made a beeline for her bed and collapsed with a groan, her face landing directly into her pillow. She breathed slowly as she waited, hoping her headache would go away. And soon, she felt the hesitant touch of Ruby’s hand on her back, rubbing soothing circles as Weiss tried to relax.

Not a word was spoken between them for a time. Weiss’s stress slowly disappeared, instead replaced by a gentle flutter in her heart as Ruby cared for her as best she knew how. She rolled to her side to face Ruby, patting the bed in a silent request to join her.

Ruby froze for a moment, before complying with Weiss’s request. It didn’t feel right to speak in the silence that seemed so comfortable, so she simply smiled hoping that Weiss would understand what she wanted to say.

Weiss returned the smile shakily as she felt the remains of her headache still throbbing through her skull. It seemed Ruby had done a great job so far of helping her relax, even if she was the instigator of all her stress anyway. Weiss supposed it was kind of odd that someone who introduced so much stress to her life was also the one who could remove it without even trying. It was a balance that was very much appreciated. For all the trouble it caused, it also gave Weiss the experiences she’d been wanting since she was a child. A best friend to talk to, someone that depended on her for a reason completely unrelated to her family name and wealth, and someone she could rely on when things in her life were just too much to deal with alone. Ruby filled all these roles and more, and Weiss honestly wondered if Ruby knew how important she was to her.

But then Weiss thought about what she gave to Ruby in return. She wasn’t too sure what she had that Ruby wasn’t able to get from someone else. Ruby had plenty of friends at Beacon, more than even Weiss probably knew of. She had a loving family and a fairly care-free upbringing. It wasn’t lacking anything Weiss was currently able to provide, and Ruby had made it very clear throughout their friendship so far that she didn’t place any importance on wealth or social status. So Weiss was left somewhat confused as to why Ruby had accepted her to play such an important role in her life.

As these thoughts bothered her, the shaky smile she wore collapsed and Ruby’s silver eyes took on a tone of worry in response. It wasn’t until Ruby’s hand met Weiss’s cheek that she realized she’d zoned out.

“You okay?” Ruby asked quietly, hoping to be kind to Weiss’s headache and respect the silence as much as possible.

“I’m…” Weiss was about to say fine when she realized it would be a lie. More than anything, she didn’t want to lie to Ruby. Especially not when her concern was about their relationship. But at the same time she wasn’t quite sure how to voice her concern in a way that Ruby would actually give the answer some thought. “I’m feeling better, thanks to you. But I was just thinking… wondering, actually… why… why do you like me?”

Ruby blushed a little at the question, the hesitation in her partner’s voice giving her a sense of how nervous she was about asking, but she didn’t break eye contact as she thought. It was nice to know that Weiss was serious about them, and Ruby felt Weiss had asked more than her words had said. She noticed the nervousness in Weiss’s eyes and realized she was probably just as afraid of doing things wrong as she was.

“Well… I like you because you’re an amazing person, and you’re really nice, and kind, and you balance me out.” Ruby said as she thought about Weiss’s question and how to answer it.

“But… I’m not any of those things. I haven’t changed that much since we met, but for whatever reason…” Weiss frowned more as she thought about Ruby’s words. “I guess I just don’t see what you see in me. I mean, we always fight over things, and we don’t have the same interests…”

“Weiss, listen.” Ruby interrupted Weiss’s mumbling as she readjusted herself to lay a little closer so the two were now sharing one pillow. “I’m not sure why you’re thinking like this, but I like you because I like you. It’s really as simple as that.”

“But Ruby-” Weiss was cut off with a chaste kiss on her lips as Ruby leaned in. Before Weiss could object, or do anything really, Ruby had moved back and taken Weiss’s hand, bringing it up between their chests as she wrapped her fingers around her partners.

“Weiss… I don’t really know how to explain it, but I guess when I think about it, you balance me out. You make me want to work on things I’m not good at, and be better so I can stand up and be proud to be your partner. Besides, we mostly fight over silly little things like study time or how many cookies make a snack. It really just says how much you care about us, that you look out not just for me, but for our whole team.” Ruby smiled, getting Weiss to smile a little in return. “So I’m not sure why exactly I like you, if there even is a single reason. But when I look at you, or think about you, my heart just does this funny kind of flip, and it makes me want to spend even more time with you and get to know you better. I want to do things for you because you help me so much all the time. It’s kind of feels like a curse that keeps coming back every time something makes me think of you, but it’s a really nice feeling too.”

This time it was Weiss’s turn to move in for a kiss, squeezing Ruby’s hand hard as she did so. She still didn’t really understand what Ruby saw in her, but she could tell that she was being honest with her feelings.

“Thank you, Ruby.” Weiss smiled, simply enjoying the glimmers of silver that were her partner’s eyes. “I think you’re my curse too…”

“Oh…” Ruby’s face fell for a moment and Weiss couldn’t help but giggle a bit at her reaction.

“You can cause a lot of trouble at times, but I would never trade you for anything or anyone.” Weiss smiled as the smile jumped back to Ruby’s face along with a small blush.

“W-wow, um, thanks…” Ruby stuttered as Weiss once again found herself giggling at Ruby’s inability to deal with an honest compliment.

After a few minutes of silence, just looking into each other’s eyes, their fingers gently intertwined and locked tightly together, Weiss felt her ailment that had been with her the entire afternoon finally abate as Ruby’s presence continued to bring her comfort.

“So how are you doing?” Ruby asked at length, noticing Weiss seemed much better than in their classes earlier after she let out a long breath and shifted just slightly to get more comfortable.

“I’m better… my headache is gone now.” Weiss smiled as her free hand reached up and cupped Ruby’s cheek, pressing it between the pillow and Ruby’s head. It felt nice to feel her girlfriend like this. Weiss was still surprised how this small touch could feel so intimate, but was grateful for Ruby’s reaction as she rested the weight of her head on her hand. “But I think I need to go shopping so today doesn’t repeat itself.”

“Yeah, I didn’t expect everyone to be so surprised. We can go right now if you want!” Ruby moved to get up but Weiss held her hand tight, stopping Ruby from going too far. “Weiss?”

“Kiss me.”

The words floated from Weiss’s mouth before she stopped to think on what she was asking. Ruby seemed equally surprised by the simple request but it quickly passed. There was no asking involved, it was more that she was giving her permission for something she knew they both wanted.

Ruby settled back down while ignoring the embarrassment she felt about how eager she felt to oblige her partner’s request. Since they’d gotten together they’d only had time for short pecks when nobody was around and the odd bit of holding hands under one table or another. She wrapped her other hand around Weiss’s waist and pulled her partner closer the second she’d settled.

No sooner had Weiss closed her eyes than Ruby’s lips met hers in a searing kiss. It was so much better than their previous attempts as she settled into a rhythm, making sure Ruby wouldn’t pull back too soon.

Weiss felt Ruby’s tongue ask, and without even a thought about hygiene, she reciprocated and deepened the kiss. She should have been terrified at how quickly they’d become acclimated to each other’s tendencies, how eager they both seemed to experience each moment they had together. But Weiss only wanted more of the dizzying feeling that swept through her being when she was with Ruby like this.

So when she was gently rolled to her back, it only made her heart race faster as Ruby straddled her, pinning her to the bed as they continued kissing without missing a beat. Weiss sucked gently on Ruby’s tongue for a moment, making Ruby moan before she redoubled her efforts as she pressed her body into Weiss.

“Holy crap!” A startled shout snapped Weiss out of the world of bliss Ruby had held her in as Ruby’s head swung around to find Yang and Nora standing in the entrance of their dorm, the door still wide open as they had obviously just came back from class. Yang’s face was frozen half way between a smile and a frown, but her eyes were at least their usual lilac, meaning at the very least she wasn’t angry. Nora on the other hand had her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide as she started bouncing excitedly.

Weiss opened her mouth to ask Nora to wait, but it was already too late as Nora turned and disappeared. Shouts announcing Ruby and Weiss as a couple could be heard through the open door as Nora ran in search of the rest of her team. Instead, a long groan slipped out of Weiss’s mouth as she hid her face in her hands since she was still pinned by Ruby’s weight straddling her. Ruby locked eyes with her sister who started chuckling lightly.

“Put a sock on the door next time.” She quipped as she winked at her sister and shot a pair of finger-guns at her teammates before closing the door behind her, leaving the two alone again.

“Well… on the bright side, I think Yang’s okay with us.” Ruby said as she turned around to see Weiss looking up at her through her fingers before her hands reached back up.

“Yes, well… no point hiding anymore.” Weiss smiled up at Ruby, though Ruby could tell it was a very nervous smile. “You know… as much as I didn’t want it public, I’m not too broken up over it.”

“We’ll get through this. You have me after all.” Ruby grinned and leaned down for another kiss.

“And you have me.” Weiss happily replied before she obliged and smiled into Ruby’s lips. As they parted, this time ensuring they weren’t too lost before pressing Ruby back up, Weiss had to giggle a little at the situation.

“Well, I guess this was going to happen sooner or later anyway.” Weiss sighed in defeat. “I suppose we better make a stop at the CCT after our real shopping trip to inform my father. It’ll be better he hears this from me before he’s informed by other means.”

“I thought you didn’t want him to know?” Ruby asked cautiously.

“Well… I don’t. Not really.” Weiss admitted with a sigh. “But if he’s ever going to treat me like an adult, I need to act like one. I want to be able to act like a real couple without fear of him finding out some other way. You deserve that much, and if he doesn’t like it he can just go pout in one of his mansions. This is our relationship and he has absolutely no say in it.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompts for day 6 were: Forbidden Love, Moments, and A peaceful Farm with an open field.
> 
> Enjoy!

“So… that’s your house?” Ruby asked out of disbelief as she looked past the chauffeur at the looming mansion that was three stories tall, and looked like it could fit at least two of their dorm buildings inside it.

Large stone columns adorned the face of the white building and light blue trimming edged each of the few dozen windows as well as the matching rain gutters. The roof appeared blacker than tar, and there was a massive rose garden in the middle of the turnaround. The flower beds against the house and around the front yard seemed well kept, and Ruby wondered how many people were needed to keep it looking so clean.

“Yes, that’s Villa de Vale.” Weiss affirmed from her seat next to Ruby, her arms were crossed as she thought about the way her father had asked her to make an appearance in their call the previous evening. “It’s the residence we use when there are matters in Vale to attend to. It’s actually where I was supposed to stay while I attended Vale, but… I thought the dorms would be a more valuable experience.”

“No complaints here.” Ruby mumbled as her hand found Weiss’s without her eyes ever leaving the looming building as it grew larger and larger.

A minute later the car stopped and Weiss waited as the driver came around to open their door. After the long ride around Vale before finally heading to the Villa, it was nice to finally stretch her legs, though she wished it would be anywhere but this monolith that stank of her family’s influence.

Weiss smiled as she stood and turned, offering her hand to Ruby who blushed as she took it to stand. It was nice that something so small could show Ruby how she felt. She hoped it would be a good start to the apology she feared she’d need to give Ruby before the day was done. Although, she was determined to keep Ruby as her priority regardless of what her father decided to do.

The two approached the front door that had an ornate frosted glass window in the shape of the Schnee Dust Company logo while being escorted by the driver. He rang the bell for them, only for it to be opened almost immediately as if someone had been waiting just inside the door for them.

“Father?” Weiss’s eyes went wide as she came face to face with her father who had opened the door himself. Suddenly, Weiss’s worst fears of the day got even worse.

“Weiss, I believe I only invited you, not… your friend.” His nose crinkled as if he was smelling something foul before waving at Weiss to enter. “Ms. Rose is not welcome across my threshold.”

“Yes sir.” The driver nodded and moved between Ruby and the door, though Weiss could tell he didn’t know of her semblance.

“Father, I see no reason not to-” Weiss started only for Ruby to squeeze her hand and catch her attention.

“It’s okay Weiss. I’ll just wait by the car.” Ruby smiled, though she couldn’t hide the hurt on her face from her partner.

“I promise I won’t be too long.” Weiss nodded, realizing that it might be best to keep her out of the crossfire for the time being. So she gave Ruby’s hand one last squeeze before following her father inside.

As she left, Ruby made her way back to the car, choosing to lean against the side of it next to the driver who sighed tiredly next to her.

“Sorry about that… but I have a kid starting at Signal next year.” He said with another sigh. “We barely scrape by as it is, but I don’t have the heart to tell him he can’t follow his dream to become a hunter.”

“It’s okay, I get it.” Ruby nodded, knowing the type of man Weiss had described to her on more than one occasion. She wasn’t going to hold his actions against him for looking out for his child.

“It’s not okay, not really. But there’s nothing I can do about it.” He replied with a shake of his head. “Johnathan Brown, by the way. Friends call me Johnny.”

“Ruby Rose.” Ruby replied, feeling more relaxed now that she knew the driver had no real conviction to keep her away from Weiss should she need to intervene in something.

Ruby had just finished her thought when the door flew open with enough force to shatter every pane of glass in the window, and even rattle one loose from the door next to it. The shattering noise was loud in the quiet country air that it made both Ruby and Johnathan jump away from the car.

Ruby watched Weiss storm out of the door, the look on her face nothing but pure fury and wrath as she stormed across the couple dozen steps it took to be right in front of Ruby as her father and another man stepped into view inside the mansion. Weiss’s eyes were hard as they looked at Ruby, but they shimmered slightly as her emotions brimmed just under the surface as if she was repressing the anger she so obviously felt as she looked at her partner.

Ruby opened her mouth to ask what was wrong when Weiss sidestepped her and swept her into dip while their lips met with a feverish kiss. For a second, Ruby realized that the kiss was meant to be seen, and more importantly watched by Weiss’s father and whoever the other guy was. But that thought didn’t last long as Weiss’s lips distracted her from anything else.

In comparison to their previous kisses, this one seemed angry, but the anger was clearly not directed at Ruby. It was more like Weiss was frustrated and she didn’t know how to handle the situation. So Ruby did the only thing she could do, and wrap her arms around Weiss’s neck for better support and allow Weiss to lead the kiss however she wanted. Not that Ruby was complaining about it.

She needn’t have bothered though, as Weiss straitened her back and broke the kiss to look over at the door, making Ruby follow her gaze to Weiss’s father and a young man who was shaking his head at something Mr. Schnee was saying before turning and walking away.

It looked as if Mr. Schnee’s eyes were going to pop out of his sockets when he waved Weiss over and stomped his foot down. Weiss just smirked as she winked at her father, holding up her middle finger in a sign of disrespect she’d learnt from Yang. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to make his face start changing colours to a deep red on the verge of purple before Weiss turned away and hooked her arm through Ruby’s.

“Lets go before he cools off enough to yell.” Weiss grinned as she started walking back down the driveway, ignoring the car.

“What about the car?” Ruby asked with a quick glance back at Johnny the driver.

“The car is for people who play to dear Father’s tune. Seems I was _just a little bit_ off key today.” Weiss laughed as she and Ruby kept walking leisurely. “Either way, it’s not too far to the airships. The car took us the long way around the city.”

“So…” Ruby prompted as it seemed Weiss was content to remain silent. “What was that about?”

“Well… it started with Father going on about family duty and responsibilities. You can probably guess the gist of it, but the whole _with a girl you can’t have children_ nonsense was one of the main points.” Weiss sighed as she relived the last few minutes for the sake of transparency. “Then he has the audacity to have a suitor there, just waiting to, and I quote, _prove that I’m just confused_. I get that some people don’t accept this kind of thing, and that’s fine, but the way he said it as if I was mentally ill or something… I just snapped. At least the guy seemed like he had been roped into the meeting.”

“Yeah, I can’t imagine what would happen if my dad didn’t approve of us.” Ruby replied with a frown. “But dad always told us that our health and happiness were the most important things to him. So he’ll be fine with us.”

“Well, this is a bit more than just happy and healthy.” Weiss replied, thinking of the part of the conversation she’d blocked out from her summary. No need to get into that just yet.

“Yeah, well… he’s always been pretty supportive of everything.” Ruby mused. “That, and I may have already mentioned you to him…”

“Really? And?” Weiss asked, pulling Ruby to a halt.

“And… nothing. He just said he was proud of me growing up, and he wished my mom could see me…” Ruby shook her head. “Basically he got a bit confused since he didn’t know how to give me _the talk_ so he settled on telling me to do my research before things started getting… well, you know… because he wanted to make sure I was being safe.”

“W-wow.” Weiss stuttered as she felt her cheeks bloom red at Ruby’s summary of her conversation with her dad.

“Yeah… I think we were both embarrassed, but he makes a good point.” Ruby blushed too as she continued if only to voice her part. “If we’re together long enough, it will probably come up eventually… at some point… at least we should look into it so when it happens we’ll be prepared.”

“Who are you, and what have you done with Ruby?” Weiss deadpanned even as her face burned brighter. “But… I agree your dad does make a good point.”

Silence fell as they continued walking, no longer arm in arm as they tried to calm themselves from the awkward topic they’d come right up to breaching after only officially dating for a few days.

“So… where are we going?” Ruby asked finally as she felt her heart return to the normal race it was in the presence of her partner.

“Well… back to Vale, but that’s about four miles away.” Weiss said as she looked at the crop of corn growing on the other side of the ditch between the road they were walking on and the field.

“Wanna turn this into a date?” Ruby asked with a small smile that had Weiss blushing again.

“Dolt…” Weiss mumbled as she slipped her hand into Ruby’s and squeezed. “Of course I do.”

Despite the assertion, they didn’t do much except walk hand in hand while making small talk on their way back to Vale. The serene silence was welcoming though as the two simply walked, enjoying the way they held hands while passing acres upon acres of crops, without another person for as far as the eye could see. It was just enjoyable to find a little pocket they could be alone in after the obviously stressful encounter.

One farmer’s field passed, then three before the comfortable silence was broken by Ruby coughing lightly before she took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Hey Weiss?” Ruby’s voice punctuated the quiet country air as buildings loomed at the end of their journey back to the city. With a glance to her side, she saw Weiss nod as their eyes met for a moment. “Was your dad always like that?”

Weiss seemed to think for a moment, her steps slowing slightly as she thought. “Well… I guess all the perfectionism started, for me at least, when I was maybe… six or so?”

Ruby was surprised at the questioning sound of her partner’s voice as their steps slowed even further to a crawl as they slowly continued down the road as Weiss thought.

“I guess it all really started with my sister Winter.” Weiss continued with a slight nod as she decided how to tell Ruby what she knew she was asking. “I’m not sure how he treated her, but when she moved into the dorms of Atlas Military Academy, he turned his focus to me. It didn’t take long for her to be disinherited for some mess up I have no knowledge about, but that’s what put me at the top of his list of successors. Since then, it’s always been kind of an understanding that I needed to be the best at all times, and at everything.”

“Kind of unrealistic, isn’t it?” Ruby asked again. “I mean him expecting a six year old to be perfect in anything, never mind everything.”

“Well, I guess perfect wasn’t really the right choice in words.” Weiss hummed as she thought carefully. “I suppose the term beyond my level would be more accurate. For example, I can do advanced calculus and physics when most people our age are at an introductory level at worst, and only really good in one specialized area at best.”

“Hmmm… now that I think about it, I did find it odd that you could calculate Crescent Rose’s trajectory after I told you the muzzle velocity and weight of her rounds.” Ruby nodded in thought. “You normally wouldn’t know how to do that calculation unless you used rifles fairly regularly.”

“Yes, well… that sort of thing was expected of me all the time. That’s why I always have to study, because he’s threatened to stop paying for Beacon if I’m not performing as he expects in my classes.” Weiss frowned slightly. “But that gives him no right to call my partner…”

“Huh?” Ruby asked, noticing the way Weiss’s voice shook with barely suppressed rage.

“Listen, Ruby… I don’t want to keep a secret from you, but you have to understand that I really don’t want to repeat the things he’s said about you.” Weiss breathed deeply before pulling Ruby to a stop and looking into her eyes. “But I don’t want you to think I’m protecting you just because you’re younger than me. We’re equal partners, so I’ll tell you what he said if you really want to know.”

“Tell me.” Ruby nodded as she squeezed Weiss’s hands. “I know that even though you don’t get along, you still care for him. You don’t deserve to suffer just because he happens to be your father. Like you said, we’re equal partners. So when it concerns both of us, we have to share everything, good or bad.”

“That’s actually really mature coming from you.” Weiss smiled as Ruby looked away with a blush and rubbed the back of her neck.

“Yeah, well… I’m also sick of people not telling me things just because I’m a couple years younger. Gets old really quick, trust me.” Ruby pouted for a moment before looking back and pressing her lips to Weiss’s cheek quickly.

“I do.” Weiss smiled through her own blush before her features darkened and she shifted to continue walking, this time wrapping her arm around Ruby’s waist, forcing them to walk slowly so as not to step on each other. “So the first thing you need to understand, is that my father almost never actually insults _anyone_ , regardless of who they are, when guests are present. And when he does insult someone, it’s never someone other than my sister, or myself, or on occasion my younger brother, period.”

Ruby just nodded, as her arm squeezed Weiss’s hip gently to let her know that she understood.

“So it was kind of off-putting when he essentially called you a… I wish there was a better way to phrase this, but he called you a sex worker… in front of a business partner’s son.” Weiss shuddered as she shook her head. But Ruby let loose a quick exhale and Weiss realized she was laughing. “What is it?”

“A sex worker? Seriously Weiss?” Ruby laughed a bit as she pulled Weiss along. “And here I thought he was being inventive. Were those the actual words he used?”

“No.” Weiss snapped, somewhat frustrated by Ruby’s lax reaction. “He called you a harlot, a tramp, a whore, and obtuse in front of that… that man. I… I wanted to…”

“Okay Weiss… I get it.” Ruby squeezed Weiss tightly. “You showed them both what you think already.”

Weiss nodded as she breathed and let Ruby’s embrace comfort her.

“I’ll be honest though… I don’t really care what he calls me or what he thinks.” Ruby mused as she felt Weiss relax a little. “I mean, sure it would be nice if he accepted me as your girlfriend, but if he’s not going to do that then he can go sit in his shiny office on his high chair and suck on his thumb like the little man he is. And who, let the record show, insults little girls because they don’t live their lives the way he thinks they should.”

Weiss smiled a little at Ruby’s statement and let out a breath as she allowed herself to relax more. After all, as much as it was her father, Ruby seemed to not really care too much. And it actually made Weiss realize how stupid getting so upset about it was when it wouldn’t change his behaviour anyway.

“I really appreciate you defending me like you did though.” Ruby’s head landed on Weiss’s shoulder as they made it back to the city.

“Well, I can’t just ignore it when my father insults my girlfriend like that.” Weiss smiled as she rested her own head on Ruby’s. “That and… I may have also smashed his favourite vase on the way out.”

They shared a laugh before silence fell again as they just enjoyed the walk together. Weiss thought about her father and how her future seemed uncertain as she continued to disobey him. It would likely end similar to how her sister was ousted as the heiress. She could only hope that her father decided otherwise, though she doubted she would last long while constantly going against him.

“Hey Ruby?” Weiss asked as they rounded a corner near the business district of Vale and stopped at a red light, waiting for the crosswalk light to change.

“Yeah Weiss?” Ruby hummed, her voice sounding content and relaxed as if she’d just woken from a nap. It made Weiss blush as she realized how intimately they’d been walking together.

“I don’t want to worry you or anything, but if we keep dating, my father will probably disinherit me like he did my sister.” Weiss braced her arm as Ruby made to move away, forcing her to remain close. She reached her spare hand up and pulled Ruby’s head back to her shoulder as her fingers brushed her partner’s cheek. “But if he does, I don’t know what will happen in the future.”

“Well, I’ll always be there for you, even after Beacon!” Ruby replied immediately, already certain of that fact, as far off as it was.

“I thought you’d say that.” Weiss chuckled as she pulled Ruby to start walking across the street again. “I want you to be there too. I have a good feeling about us.”

“Well, we are best friends and best teammates before anything else.” Ruby mused. Weiss could hear the smile in her voice as they leisurely walked through the city to the air ships. “I’m _pretty_ sure we can do anything together.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompts for day 7 were: The Princess and Her Knight, Future, and Two hands hooked by the pinky.
> 
> Enjoy!

_Knock knock._

The door echoed early in the evening as team RWBY sat studying the notes they’d taken in class that day. Or rather, Weiss and Ruby were studying. Blake had, as was her usual routine, finished studying early and gone back to reading her latest conquest from the library, and Yang was leaving her studies for the last minute, preferring to shoot some type of alien on her scroll and make quiet explosion sounds every few seconds.

Weiss sighed and stood, knowing that nobody else would move since the chair at the desk was the closest to the door.

_Knock knock._

“Hold on, I’m coming.” Weiss called as she went to open the door.

“Miss Schnee, come with us.” The words caught Ruby’s attention as she saw a man’s arm reach in and grab Weiss by her wrist.

“Unhand me you brute!” Weiss screeched as she summoned a glyph and a loud crunch sounded from the opposite side of the hallway as whoever had touched her disappeared from view.

“Hey, what’s the big idea!” Yang shouted as she hopped down from her bed first. Ruby followed shortly after, as she untangled herself from her sheets. Blake stood last, placing her book down and discretely placing her weapon at her back as she joined her teammate at the door.

“Miss Schnee, you have been withdrawn from Beacon and will be taken home tonight.” Another thug in a white suit said, paying no attention to the man knocked out in the hallway.

“Hey, you can’t just-” Yang started shouting but was silenced as Weiss held her hand up between her teammate and the thug as she nodded slowly.

“I understand. Give me a moment to gather my things.” Weiss’s statement wasn’t a question, and as much as it looked like the man wanted to argue, he held his tongue as she closed the door.

“What the hell is going on?” Yang’s question had the whole team watching her, but Ruby looked down at her feet.

“Well, I can’t say for sure, but it probably has something to do with my behaviour last evening where I may have demonstrated my relationship with Ruby in front of a suitor my father selected for me.” Weiss said as she reached out and took Ruby’s hand. “I have to go now, but I promise I’ll come back as soon as I can. Okay?”

“Y-yeah…” Ruby nodded shakily as she let Weiss wrap her in a tight hug. As Ruby hugged her back, she could feel Weiss shaking like a leaf in the wind. “Weiss?”

“I…” Weiss swallowed as she stepped back from her girlfriend. “I don’t want to leave… any of you. I promise you, I’ll come back as soon as I can.”

“Take care of yourself.” Yang nodded as she clamped Weiss on the shoulder.

“Keep us updated.” Blake nodded, her voice unaffected, but her feline ears flattened against her head, pulling the bow Blake wore with them. “We’ll miss you.”

“Take care of each other for me. You’ll be down a member till I return.” Weiss said seriously, looking at each of her team members in turn. “I…”

Weiss gulped as the words failed to come to her mouth as her eyes fell on Ruby. Her eyes were staring straight back at her, but there were tears in them that Weiss knew she had no power to stop. Though she knew she was no better. She could feel the gentle drip as her own tears quietly leaked from her own eyes.

_Knock knock knock._

“I have to go.” Weiss nodded as she left, closing the door behind her and not turning back.

Ruby watched her leave as the tears finally started flowing down her face in earnest. Yang moved in to scoop her up in a hug not a second later, and even Blake joined in as Ruby let out her tears at having Weiss ripped away from her so suddenly like that.

“Hey… do you think she’ll actually come back?” Yang’s quiet question to Blake caught Ruby’s attention and she pulled back and wiped the tears from her face.

“No, her dad probably won’t let her come back if he has any say in it.” Ruby said shakily as her tears threatened to return full force.

“Well, nothing for it then.” Yang said as she stepped away and dialled a number on her scroll. Ruby looked to Blake who simply shrugged as they made eye contact. “Hey, you owe me a favour… find out which airship Weiss Schnee will be on, and keep it on the ground… I don’t know, there were bunch of thugs in white suits…. Yup, we just need about half an hour, tops…. Yup, now we’re even…. Thanks Junior, you magnificent bastard!”

“What was that about?” Ruby asked as Yang turned back around, though she could only suspect as Weiss’s name had come up. As the only one of the two who didn’t have faunus hearing, Blake’s reassuring smile was already helping her calm down.

“Nothing much, just getting your girlfriend back where she belongs.” Yang smiled as she pulled her aviators out of her pocket. “Now go get Crescent Rose. It’s time Mr. Schnee gets off his high horse and learns why you don’t mess with our family.”

* * *

Ruby ran as fast as she could, her semblance carrying her over the vale skyline as she jumped from building to building with a flash of rose petals. Occasionally she’d use a fire escape to adjust her height, but her landing strategy was on point this evening. Below her somewhere, Yang and Blake were racing toward the airfield on her sister’s bike Bumblebee. Seeing as the bike only sat two at most, and the streets were much harder to navigate in this area of the city due to the constant construction and population, Ruby was taking the fastest path over the dozens of flat roofed warehouses that dotted the primary shipping port in the city.

The whole plan had been very make-shift, as Yang had called in an old favour from a criminal she’d once helped in order to find information on her mother. What they’d come up with in the dozen or so minutes that they spent racing to Beacon’s garage, was a plan that went up to the point where they got to the airship Weiss was on, but once they were there, they’d be winging it.

Weiss seemed like she’d been okay with going at first, but the way her eyes had looked, afraid and sad… made Ruby hope this was the right path to take. Of course she didn’t want Weiss to go, but what if she was overstepping her bounds as Weiss’s teammate and girlfriend? Ruby decided she’d rather deal with an angry Weiss later than let her be alone when she had looked so sad and afraid. Ruby just hoped she wouldn’t have to somehow break into the airship. As much as her Crescent Rose was freshly sharpened, she very much doubted she’d be able to do any serious damage to an airship. For that, she’d need Yang’s help.

It wasn’t long before Ruby landed on the ground of the airfield, there were a dozen or so airships landed, but only one was loading passengers. Another, further down the landing strip seemed to be refuelling, but there was one second from the end that had a pair of men in white suits arguing with who looked like a mechanic.

“Gotcha!” Ruby nodded as she heard the distant roar of a motorcycle echo through the buildings behind her over the noise of the other traffic. Ruby nodded to herself as she started running toward her team’s target.

A sudden loud crash like the sound of rending metal echoed down the long stretch of pavement, making civilians scream and start running for cover as a large white blade ripped free of the airship behind the arguing men before it sliced down, prying the hatch open just enough for a girl with a light blue dress and white hair to squeeze through as a series of shouts came from the other side.

“Weiss!” Ruby’s call caught Weiss’s attention as she scanned the air strip and the eight men were already approaching her with dust swords and shock batons, fairly standard fare for her father’s thugs as she heard her father shout from behind her. As her eyes landed on Ruby rushing toward her, she smiled and her concentration wavered as the sword that had gotten her out of the craft disappeared.

As if sensing the lapse in her concentration, the first thug attacked, swiping at her with his sword as she ducked and rolled out of the way of a shock baton. She spun, catching a third sword on her blade before tripping the man into yet another shock baton.

Ruby came flying with her scythe already extended, sending three of the men head over heels across the pavement with her semblance and dust fuelled strike.

The three remaining assailants spread out and circled the duo as they exchanged a brief nod before rushing in opposite directions. Needless to say the men didn’t last long, two of them having been knocked out before the third dropped his weapon and ran.

“Thanks for the assist.” Weiss said as she caught Ruby’s arm. “But there are more where that came from.”

Ruby looked back to find at least thirty or forty men in white suits running across the landing strip with their weapons raised.

“Um… maybe we should get out of here.” Weiss said as she looked toward the side of the cliff the landing strip sat on.

“Oh! Look!” Ruby cheered, nudging Weiss even as she pulled out her scythe and aimed down the scope.

Sliding around the final corner and going at a ridiculous speed for just hopping a curb and crashing through a gate, Bumblebee slid into view briefly before shouts and shots echoed from the crowd as a dozen people were thrown into the air and a few more were tripped as a black ribbon fluttered behind the bike before catching around a lamp post.

Blake flew off the bike and around the pole, kicking one of the men and sending him flying before launching herself back toward Ruby and Weiss.

“Looks like we made it.” She called as she clasped Weiss’s hand before she flew past, landing and turning back to the crowd as Yang joined them.

“Alright! Let’s send em out RWBY style!” Yang cheered as she cocked back her gauntlets and waited for Ruby’s call.

“I’d keep it tight.” Weiss suggested as was usual for their impromptu combat planning that regularly happened mere seconds before the fight started.

“Tight formation, and keep the airship in your peripherals.” Ruby ordered in agreement before dashing out to meet the first of the charging combatants with the side of her scythe to his head. A second moved in to attack her exposed side only to have Blake land on her shoulders and knock her out with a quick hit. As Blake landed next to the crumpling body of her opponent, a man swiped his sword down as Yang caught it on her gauntlet before hitting him hard in his stomach and sending him flying with a round of propulsion dust. Weiss focused, trying to recreate the summon she’d somehow used to escape, only for her semblance to fizzle out at the last moment as the sword slowly receded back into nothingness. Giving up for the moment, she was just in time to move in and catch a shock baton aimed at Yang’s back with her blade. The ice dust already coating it made the offender’s weapon a solid block that pulled him to the ground as Weiss ensured her knee knocked him out on the way.

The fight continued on, with team RWBY taking out the countless thugs one or two at a time in rapid succession. They worked hard to keep their formation tight and follow Ruby’s advice as it made sense that more of these thugs might be trapped inside and trying to get out to join in.

But if it weren’t for the sheer number of people attacking them, the fight would have been ridiculously easy for them. There was a good reason they were one of the top teams at Beacon, and still being first years, that should have been a clear indication that they weren’t the huntresses in training to mess with.

The last of Mr. Schnee’s thugs fell from Blake’s hand as her two shadow clones that she’d used throughout the fight faded into nothingness. Yang cocked her gauntlet, letting all the empty shells fall as she turned back to her sister and the target of their rescue.

Weiss smiled at Yang and turned just in time to see a faint flicker of white in her peripherals. Ruby had her back to the airship where Mr. Schnee was aiming a rifle out of the open hatch. Weiss knew without even thinking who the target of his weapon was, and a fear gripped her heart as she watched his barely visible finger move as if it was in slow motion.

The world seemed to freeze as the need to protect Ruby welled up inside Weiss, who reached forward blindly with her aura and semblance, knowing full well she’d never be able to move fast enough to get herself in the way in time.

A shot rang out making Yang and Blake jump and Ruby spin around just as a white knight not much larger than Ruby herself caught the round of burn dust on it’s blade before aiming it back where it came from.

Mr. Schnee dived out of the airship as it burst into flames, but before he could even start to pick himself up, Weiss turned and nodded to Yang who’s eyes were already red after seeing her sister get attacked by Weiss’s father.

“Ruby are you okay?” Weiss asked as Ruby looked on at everything that had just happened. Mr. Schnee rose up and fired again, only for Weiss’s summon to deflect the round again while Yang marked her target with her blood red eyes.

Ruby nodded to Weiss’s question as she looked between her sister and girlfriend both standing between her and danger. The look in both their eyes more than enough to convince her what they needed to do to resolve this fight. “Freezer-burn.”

Yang, Weiss, and her summon all rushed in, Mr. Schnee aiming first at his daughter, though Weiss blocked the round easily before freezing the man’s feet to the ground.

Yang was next sending a strong punch at the man who attempted to block and counter with his rifle. The resounding crack of the ice breaking echoed around them as he slid out and aimed once more for Weiss. His eyes took on a crazed look as he gnashed his teeth together in anger.

But just before his finger depressed the trigger, a white sword slashed up from his side, hitting the weapon’s dust cartridge perfectly and detonating it in a miniature explosion that sent the man and his broken gun rolling away, defeated.

The team looked on as he pushed himself up on his hands and knees before promptly falling sideways back onto the ground.

Finally letting out a sigh of relief that the fight was over, Weiss turned and wrapped Yang in a quick hug that was returned immediately. She reached out as Blake and Ruby approached and pulled them in too. No words were exchanged as they all knew what the others wanted to say. Family fights rarely escalated to this extent, but Weiss was happy that she’d had all the backup she could ever want for this one. It felt good to win against her father for once, after years of minuscule wins and catastrophic losses.

So as they broke up their hug, they started the long walk home together with Yang even choosing to push Bumblebee so she could enjoy the time with her team. It felt normal, as if they were just heading back from any other mission they’d undertaken, whether assigned or not.

“You know, Goodwitch is going to chew us out for this right?” Yang asked pointedly as she cast a side-long look at Weiss. Weiss sighed, already knowing what Yang was asking.

“I’ll see what I can do… I need to speak with Ozpin anyway.” Weiss sighed in acknowledgement. “I’m sure once I explain everything, it’ll all work out.”

“That’s our Weiss!” Yang cheered as she and Blake started forward a little faster as Ruby wrapped her hand around Weiss’s.

“Will you be able to stay now?” Ruby asked, trying her best to hide the concern in her voice, but Weiss knew why she was asking.

“I’m not sure. I don’t have the money for Beacon without my father, so unless he sees reason…” Weiss shook her head and looked back at Ruby. “I’m going to see if I can work something out with the headmaster. He seems like he’d understand, or at least be able to give me some time to get funding together.”

Ruby just nodded and they continued to walk, watching Blake complain to Yang about her bike as they headed toward the distant entrance of the landing strip. Weiss looked to Ruby and watched her for a few moments, drinking in the silver eyes and the girl they belonged to, the girl who she’d finally managed to use her semblance’s full potential to protect. She squeezed Ruby’s hand and leaned in as she turned, planting a soft peck on her lips.

“What’s that for?” Ruby asked, her voice sounding mildly surprised at the sudden affection.

“For rescuing me, dolt.” Weiss chuckled. “Ruby?”

“Hmm?” Ruby hummed while she interlocked her fingers more securely with Weiss’s.

“Whatever happens, I promise everything will be fine.” Weiss shook her head to clear her thoughts. “I _really_ hated leaving you like that earlier, so I’ve decided it won’t happen again.”

“Pinky swear?” Ruby asked holding up her free hand with her little finger extended. Weiss almost laughed at the simplicity Ruby could place on such a complicated situation. But it was the perfect solution in its own way.

“Pinky swear.” Weiss replied as she hooked her own finger around Ruby’s and held on for a moment.

“I… I’m really happy you’re my girlfriend, Weiss.”

Ruby’s whisper froze the breath in Weiss’s lungs as they released their little fingers. The way Ruby said it made Weiss think she’d originally wanted to say something else that was on her mind.

Weiss had thought about her feelings almost constantly since she left her dorm earlier, and Ruby’s tone had just answered any questions she still had about the two of them. Weiss was sure, now more than ever before that everything in the near future would work out. How could it not when her and Ruby worked together?

“I-I’m sorry.” Ruby mumbled, breaking Weiss from her thoughts as she tried to speed up a little and rejoin the rest of their team.

“Shut up and kiss me, you dolt.” Weiss replied with a smile, pulling Ruby back into a gentle kiss. “Listen up! In case you didn’t know, I love you.”

“I-I love you too!” Ruby chirped, obviously really excited by Weiss’s words, but also embarrassed to say it out loud. Weiss laughed and pulled Ruby in for another kiss.

“Hey, love-birds! Let’s get going!” Yang’s voice cut through their bubble.

“Yang! Leave us alone!” Ruby shouted even as the pair complied and caught up to their teammates. “I just want to spend time with Weiss!”

“Listen to your sister Yang.” Blake advised with a sly smile at the pair before turning back to the front. “At least they’re not asking to use the dorm yet.”

“Hey!” Weiss swiped at Blake only to have her clone disappear. A moment later she tapped Ruby on the shoulder, getting both of the girl’s attentions.

“On a more serious note though, I’m glad we can stick together.” Blake smiled and pulled Ruby and Weiss into a light hug. Weiss smiled though her blush wasn’t likely to go anywhere for a while. Ruby likewise just looked down and let Blake lean in behind them.

“Alright, team hug!” Yang announced as she spun her bike’s kick stand down and pulled all three of them into a tight, bone-crushing hug.

“I just had my father try to kill me… and now you…” Weiss gasped through her compressed ribcage as she was squeezed tightly into Ruby and Blake. “Let go…”

The three teammates hit the pavement, gasping for air as Yang looked over them with her hands on her hips as if proud of squeezing the air from her entire team at once.

“Great, now lets go because I’m starving and I think the cafeteria has roast beef today.”

Weiss slowly got to her feet with Ruby as they watched Yang and Blake continue walking. For all the trouble it was at times, Weiss knew she’d never trade this family of theirs for anything. Falling in love with Ruby was just icing on the cake.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Ruby’s voice caught Weiss’s attention as she started to follow her teammates with Ruby’s hand securely in her own.

“I’m just happy.” Weiss replied with a smile to her partner. “Let’s go home.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 8 is a free day!
> 
> Enjoy!

Weiss let out a long sigh. Under normal circumstances, she’d never imagined doing such menial work as data entry, but at least it was easy and she could do it quickly, leaving her more time to spend with Ruby. She closed down the window as she finished her task and quickly checked her bank to see that her investment had done fairly well the last couple of months, meaning that the money she’d gotten from her work could be used for things other than her tuition to Beacon Academy.

Weiss pulled up the online order she’d been eyeing for a while and hit the buy button without another thought, resolving herself to her plan for the night.

“Hey Weiss… you said six and it’s after six already!” Ruby whined from where she was supposed to be reading a text book on Weiss’s bed.

“So it is.” Weiss hummed as she turned to find Ruby with her arm draped over her eyes and the text book laying on the floor. “You know, you wouldn’t be so bored if you’d just gone to Vale with JNPR.”

“Yeah, well… it wouldn’t be the same without you.” Ruby’s honesty made Weiss blush. She couldn’t imagine how Ruby’s words were always so honest, but she felt the same way about her hyper girlfriend. But madly in love as she was, that didn’t mean she couldn’t make her squirm a bit.

“Touching… so we can stay in tonight then? Because I’m kind of tired now-” Weiss hadn’t even finished her statement when she was interrupted by a kiss as rose petals floated down around her, making her smile against Ruby’s lips.

“Come on Weiss…” Ruby whined while she pushed herself closer, straddling Weiss on her chair as she wrapped her arms tightly around her. “We gotta go to the festival!”

“I heard it’s supposed to rain you know.” Weiss said in yet another poor attempt to get out of the social engagement. “And I’m sure I could find a better way to entertain you…”

Ruby groaned and sunk in Weiss’s arms, her lips coming to rest on Weiss’s neck. Weiss held Ruby tight as she sighed at her girlfriend’s attempt to get her to relax. It was strange how easily Ruby managed to get her to unwind sometimes, but Weiss knew it was as much for Ruby’s sake as her own. It just proved how well they worked together in all parts of their lives.

“So… want to get ready?” Ruby asked as she peppered light kisses up and down Weiss’s neck as she pretty much pinned the older girl into her chair.

“Mmm…” Weiss hummed with her eyes shut. “Maybe five more minutes of this…”

Ruby giggled as she placed one more peck against Weiss’s neck and moved to capture her lips instead. Ruby took her time, savouring the intimacy of their contact and sighed as she released her partner, leaning back to take in the rosy blush her cheeks had taken on.

“Come on… we’ll have plenty of time to enjoy each other under the stars… with some freshly cooked food… and you in your pretty new dress…” Ruby’s tone was flirty, and Weiss swallowed hard as Ruby rested her forehead against her own, their eyes staring deeply into each others. A sigh escaped Weiss’s mouth in a sharp exhale, and Ruby smiled as she backed off a little.

“Those eyes should be illegal.” Weiss groaned as she took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. “Fine, let me up and I’ll get ready.”

“Alright!” Ruby exclaimed as she jumped off Weiss and zipped over to the closet to get their dresses out.

Already used to the routine they’d established, Weiss picked herself up and headed to the washroom as Ruby appeared to hand her the outfit she’d previously agreed to wear.

It’s not like the street festival they were going to was anything special either. It was just a dozen or so food vendors, interspersed with a handful of gift or game vendors taking up a lesser used walking path in the park down the street from the air strip in Vale. The event was held annually, and as everyone closed up to go home, they’d shoot fireworks off in the evening because the park had an excellent view of the ocean.

Nobody really knew why they had started the festival originally, it just seemed like something fun to do, so it had continued. Not that Weiss would complain about it, it was a nice break from school and work she could spend time with Ruby at. And it was fairly inexpensive compared to other attractions she’d had to pass over in the last few months in order to pay her tuition.

Not that she was complaining, the headmaster had been very helpful in allowing her to make monthly payments instead of the lump sum normally asked for by the school. He’d even allowed her to delay her payments to match up with the end of the month instead of the start. The combination had allowed her to put the money from her first pay period toward an investment that was finally, after months of collecting her spare change, turning enough profit to pay her tuition.

Of course, she hadn’t mentioned it to Ruby as she was slowly working on a second similar investment that she wanted to keep for a rainy day… or the odd twenty-times variable-zoom rifle scope with infrared and night vision attachments that Ruby found in a weapons catalogue.

Weiss finished changing and headed out of the washroom to find Ruby already waiting with their jackets over her arm.

“Wow, Weiss!” Ruby squealed as she looked her partner down and back up. “You look great!”

Weiss smiled and did a small spin before stopping in a curtsy for Ruby who looked wonder-struck. In fact, the dress wasn’t that different than her normal white combat outfit. The skirt was just a hair longer, and rimmed with red that faded to a speckling of red dots that were reminiscent of the rose petals Ruby’s semblance gave off the higher the skirt went to her waist. At her waist, a thick glacial white belt with a silver-finished steel buckle wrapped around her. Her top was strapless, her shoulders were exposed, and the top of the dress faded gradually from white to a muted light blue that barely caught your eye with how gradually the fade was. To top it all off, she wore a pair of silver diamond-shaped ruby earrings Ruby had given her on her birthday.

Weiss straitened from her curtsy and smiled as she let her eyes drift up and down Ruby’s outfit. “Thank you, Ruby. You’re pretty easy on the eyes yourself.”

Weiss could only smile wider as Ruby’s entire face went red. Weiss made sure to make it painfully obvious that her eyes were drifting over Ruby’s exposed shoulders, and down past her sweetheart neckline of her blood red top to the black corset that was embroidered with red rose patterns. A black leather belt held a pair of pouches on her waist as was common for her combat attire, but her skirt faded from the dark red of her top to an inky midnight blue at the bottom. Tiny specks of silver sparkled out at Weiss giving her the impression of looking at a midnight sky.

But Weiss didn’t stop there, her eyes shifted down to take in the exposed thigh above Ruby’s black thigh-high stockings that let just the barest glimpse of her skin through. Her feet were also already wearing a pair of black flats with a red bow on them instead of her usual combat boots. As Weiss worked her eyes back up slowly, she knew that she’d need to make sure Ruby knew _just_ how good she looked.

“Absolutely hypnotizing.” Weiss breathed as she stepped up to Ruby, who wasn’t making eye contact with her. She couldn’t help the small chuckle that slipped out, that Ruby could tease her so much at times, but couldn’t handle it when Weiss returned the treatment. She gently placed a finger on Ruby’s chin and directed her to look back at her, though neither one’s eyes met as the distance between them disappeared.

In place of looking into those beautiful silver orbs, Weiss instead tasted the gentle lips of the radiant girl before her. In the time they’d been together this had become a regular occurrence once Yang had stopped teasing them every time they happened to be in her presence. To Weiss it was a constant reminder that Ruby was there for her, regardless of anything that happened in their lives.

Likewise, Weiss’s gentle caresses reminded Ruby that Weiss wasn’t just her girlfriend, she was her best friend in the world, the one she could go to when things got tough and everything would be okay.

Weiss smiled as she pulled away, watching as silver eyes opened to meet her own.

“Lets get going, shall we?” Weiss asked as she took her jacket from Ruby’s arm and swung it around her shoulders as Ruby did the same with a flutter of rose petals.

* * *

“Weiss, where are we going?” Ruby asked as Weiss pulled her along down a side street just minutes away from their destination. “The festival is that way!”

“Right here, Ruby. Relax…” Weiss placated her eager partner as she stopped her outside a shop. “I have something to pick up. I already ordered it, so I’ll be back in a couple minutes.”

“Well, I’ll just come in then.” Ruby started forward only for Weiss to catch her.

“Not if you don’t want me returning it.” Weiss replied firmly as she looked at Ruby with a raised brow. Ruby groaned and leaned against the wall before waving her hand to shoo her partner away. “I won’t be long.”

Ruby watched through the window as Weiss asked at the counter for whatever she’d ordered. The worker picked a couple small boxes and showed them to Weiss who nodded and picked up the small items, placing one of them in her pouch and one in her jacket’s pocket. Ruby wasn’t quite sure what they were since Weiss had been standing in the way most of the exchange. As Weiss promised, she made her way out of the shop quickly, and took Ruby’s hand before pulling her along behind her.

It wasn’t long before Ruby and Weiss had gone through the couple dozen vendor stalls, sharing some chili fries and a corn-dog as they went. They passed some suspicious-looking food they didn’t buy out of a fear of food poisoning, but that was likely for the best. As was usual with Weiss’s budget and Ruby’s savings being critically low, they just watched as others played the overpriced carnival games and Ruby almost wanted to take Weiss back for a piece of the jewelry that another vendor was selling. It was obviously fake, but that one piece had caught her eye.

By the time they entered the clearing beyond the stalls, the evening had turned dark and the sun was below the horizon, casting the last rays of purple light across the sky.

“The fireworks will start soon.” Weiss mentioned as she caught Ruby looking back at the jewelry vendor again. “Ruby, I promise you that you’ll forget all about that necklace by the end of the evening.”

“But it was so pretty… it reminded me of you.” Ruby replied as she leaned in and gave Weiss a kiss on the cheek. “It would look great with your dress too.”

“I’ve never been one for necklaces.” Weiss shrugged and pulled Ruby away from the crowd that was gathering so they’d have a nice unobstructed view of the firework show.

“You wear a necklace all the time.” Ruby raised an eyebrow at her partner who only shrugged.

“And you wear a cape. It’s no different.” Weiss replied, with a gentle smile as she cupped Ruby’s cheek. “My grandfather gave it to me. It used to belong to my grandmother. I don’t remember her much, but he was always the nicest of everyone in my family. We got along great…. Unfortunately, he passed when I was fourteen.”

“Oh… I’m sorry.” Ruby mumbled as she tried to break eye contact only for Weiss to keep her face cupped with her hand.

“You did nothing wrong, Ruby.” Weiss smiled, to let her know she wasn’t upset. “In fact, you’ve been doing everything right.”

Ruby didn’t know how to respond, but was saved as the scream of the first flare ripped through the air. Ruby turned with her partner just to see it explode into a dozen stars that fizzled and crackled as they faded from existence. As if it was a call for reinforcements, the air was suddenly filled with streaks of brilliantly coloured light and sparkling explosions. The air was filled with quiet pops as everyone looked on in awe.

Weiss looked to Ruby and smiled at the display reflected in her eyes. As if on cue, Ruby turned and met Weiss’s eyes with her own. Suddenly, the fireworks didn’t seem as beautiful as the sparkle in the eyes Weiss stared into. So enamoured was she, that she missed Ruby swallowing hard as she gazed back.

“I have something for you.” Weiss’s whisper was almost drowned by the fireworks and people talking not too far away. But Ruby, having eyes only for her partner couldn’t have missed it.

Weiss reached down and pulled a small box from her pocket and quickly removed its contents before placing the box back.

“I… I realize this isn’t really a typical gift, but…” Weiss fell silent as Ruby shushed her gently.

“It’s okay Weiss.” Ruby reassured her seriously.

“Well… here.” Weiss nodded as she took Ruby’s left hand and slipped the ring onto her ring finger.

“W-W-Weiss?” Ruby stuttered as she took in the white gold ring that had four ruby and diamond settings in a small circular cluster. Of course there was only one thing she thought of when she thought of rings, and she had to wonder what made Weiss want _that_ so soon. But even in her flustered state, she couldn’t help but admire the way the ring reminded her of Weiss and herself.

“I… I’m not… I thought they looked nice, and they reminded me of you and me. So I thought…” Weiss blushed and looked down. “I thought they’d be a good promise.”

“Promise? Like…” Ruby’s eyes grew wide and Weiss nodded bashfully as the true meaning behind the rings sunk in. “Wow…”

Words evaded Ruby as Weiss’s words resonated with her. Weiss was promising herself to her of all people. It made Ruby’s heart flutter as she realized she had absolutely no problem with that, and even thought it would be kind of nice to have that definitive physical proof of their commitment to each other.

“You like them?” Weiss asked as she showed her own matching ring to Ruby before slipping it on her own hand. “Are you sure you’re okay with that? I don’t want to rush, but I think it… it feels… right.”

“Of course I’m okay with it!” Ruby giggled as she scooped Weiss into a tight hug. “I love them! I love it! I mean, I promise you too! I love you so much!”

“Dolt.” Weiss averted her gaze and happened to catch people looking at them as the fireworks died down. “In case you somehow forgot, I love you too. Now kiss me already!”

Ruby only smiled in reply, pulling Weiss into one of their more passionate kisses as the crowd around them dispersed, leaving them alone in an empty field as they simply enjoyed each others presence.

As they parted, Weiss smiled and reached down to her pouch. “I have one more thing for you… I noticed you were looking at it so…”

“Marry me.” Ruby said, dead serious as she read the box of the new rifle scope Weiss held in her hand.

“One day, Ruby…” Weiss sighed dramatically before putting it back in her pouch. “Let’s just enjoy the moment for now. I love you.”

“I love you too Weiss.” Ruby hummed as she started leading them slowly back to their home.


End file.
